Beneath the Surface
by LovinJackson
Summary: With emotions running high after Faith Dean and Sam head to Colorado Springs where they try to determine what lies beneath the surface in more ways than one.
1. Sleepless and Restless

**Beneath the Surface**

**Written by: **LovinJackson (Tara) :-) 

**Summary: **With emotions running high after "Faith" Dean and Sam head to Colorado Springs where they try to determine what lies beneath the surface in more ways than one. 

**Disclaimer: **Sadly i don't own Supernatural, Dean, Sammy or John ... I wish. :-)**

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**Beneath the Surface**

**1. Sleepless and Restless**

It was very rare when Dean Winchester had trouble sleeping. Usually it was his younger brother Sam that had that particular problem. But for the life of him, Dean could not seem to settle his mind enough to fall asleep and it was almost four am. His mind was still running over the events of their last encounter with the supernatural. Having a heart attack caused by electrocution and given a month to live had been a bit unsettling.

Mostly he had been worried about how Sam was going to cope. He tried to keep things light, making jokes and using sarcasm so that Sam wouldn't worry and also it was just the way Dean dealt with things rather than opening up about his feelings. In a way Dean had accepted that he was going to die. That didn't mean he liked it, but in their line of work he figured it might happen sooner or later and was just glad that it had happened to himself and not his little brother.

Although Dean had accepted his fate, Sam on the other hand was not going to give up so easy. The three days that he had been in that damn hospital Sam had been trying to find a way to save him. That was where it got worse for Dean. Reverend Roy Le Grange, the Faith Healer. He realized that Sam hadn't known that someone else would die in his place, when Roy healed him but he was still angry. He wasn't angry at Sam but at the situation and most importantly at Roy's wife Sue-Anne, who had caused all of it by using that binding spell to trap the Reaper in the first place.

Then there was his guilt about Layla Rourke. In Dean's opinion she deserved to be healed a lot more than him. Even after all he had done, preventing her from being healed in the end she still felt it in her to forgive him. She didn't deserve to die. He kept thinking that if Roy had picked to heal her in his place then in a few months she wouldn't be going to die of a brain tumor. Sam wouldn't like him thinking like this but he couldn't help it.

They needed to get back on the road and find a new gig. This stop for rest that Sam had argued they needed was doing him no good. Dean looked over at the other double bed in their dodgy hotel room, where his little brother was fast asleep. At least he could be thankful that his brother was getting a good night sleep instead of waking up because of nightmares. After they had left the whole reaper fiasco behind they had only been driving for about five hours when Sam more than suggested that they needed a rest, so they had stopped at a hotel not far from the Nebraska and Iowa border. Dean had no idea where they were actually going to head to next but he planned to find out as soon as possible and start driving. He really needed to get some sleep if he was planning on doing most of the driving. Closing his eyes once again Dean tried to go to sleep.

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Sam awoke to the smell of coffee and slowly opened his eyes to see his big brother waving a steaming Styrofoam cup of coffee under his nose.

"Morning, Sunshine." Dean greeted and waited for Sam to take the cup out of his hand.

Sam sat up and groggily took the cup from his brother and placed it on the nightstand. "Morning, how long have you been up?"

"Well, long enough to have gone out and got the coffee and paper." He told him holding up the newspaper for him to see and conveniently leaving out that he hadn't actually been asleep.

Sam nodded and then looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Man it's only five in the morning." He complained.

"Dude this is payback for all the times you have gotten me up early." Dean smirked as he sat down and opened the newspaper up.

"Which brings to my attention that you are never up this early unless you absolutely have to, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just want to get started."

"Did you sleep okay?"

"Sure." Dean answered quickly then taking a sip of his coffee, wincing when it was too hot.

Noticing that Dean had bags under his eyes Sam decided to press the issue. "How much sleep did you actually get?"

"Enough!" Dean snapped, "Dude what's with the 20 questions routine?"

"Nothing you just look tired and after everything that's happened over the last week …"

"Sam!" Dean interrupted glaring at his brother.

"I'm just saying …"

"Yeah well don't man, I'm fine, everything's fine but I would like, however, to get on with things. So drop it okay."

"Fine," Sam conceded "Look I'm gonna take a shower." He told Dean, digging through his bag for his clothes and heading for the bathroom.

"Go ahead, you don't need my permission, although I would recommend it, wouldn't want you stinking out my car." Dean joked to lighten the mood.

"Ha ha very funny." Sam replied rolling his eyes, closing the bathroom door.

Dean sighed. His brother could be worse than a dog with a bone. Despite not getting any sleep Dean was feeling better now that he was up and doing something. He brought his attention back to the newspaper and started to skim through it looking for anything that might lead to their next gig.

Dean looked up when fifteen minutes later Sam opened the bathroom door and walked into their room. Sam walked over to his forgotten coffee and saw that it had grown cold.

"You might want to warm that up." Dean told him, his eyes never leaving the newspaper.

"No? Really?" Sam answered sarcastically, "Found anything?" he asked as he put his coffee in the microwave that thankfully their room had.

"Nope, not really."

"Well what do you want to do then?"

"I don't know yet." Dean said thoughtfully then jumped when he heard and felt his phone go off in his jean pocket.

Sam raised his eyebrows and watched as Dean fished his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"It's a text message." He told his brother as he opened up the message.

Sam saw Dean's eyes widen as he read the message, "Well? What is it and who's it from?"

"It's from Dad and it's another set of co-ordinates." Dean replied looking up at Sam.

Sam all of a sudden felt anger. He hadn't yet told his brother that he had called their father and left him a message telling the man that his son was dying. Their father hadn't even bothered to call or message back to acknowledge them. Sam had been angry with his father for a lot of things in the past. The continuous hunting all their life's, never staying anywhere very long, putting them in danger time and time again for the hunt and then especially when he had left to go to college and John Winchester had told him that if he was gonna leave then to not come back. But he never really thought that their father didn't care, until this last week that is. What type of father does nothing when he hears that one of his son's is dying? He had obviously gotten the message if he could use his phone to message said son. He couldn't reply to see how they were at a time like this but he could contact them when he wanted them to do a job? Sam didn't care how dangerous it was supposedly at the moment with the whole demon thing that was just wrong in Sam's book and the only reason he hadn't told Dean about it yet was because he knew that for some reason Dean still idolized their father and he already had enough issues he was dealing with after the whole ordeal. He didn't need that on top of it.

Instead of shouting Sam put on a neutral face and held his hand out, "Show me."

Dean handed Sam his phone and got up and started packing his stuff away in his bag.

Sam looked at the message. Truthfully all there was was a set of co-ordinates, nothing to suggest that he had even known what had been going on. Sam resisted the urge to throw something, considering it would probably be Dean's phone since that was in his hand and he didn't think Dean would appreciate it. He looked up and saw that his brother was packing up.

"Dean what are you doing?"

"What does it look like college boy? I'm getting my stuff ready I wanna be out of here yesterday."

"Dean he hasn't even mentioned what it is he wants us to do there."

"We'll find out when we get there."

"Aren't we supposed to be looking for Dad? Instead of just going wherever he decides he wants us to go?" Sam challenged.

"Look Sammy, Dad has given us an order and he wouldn't send us somewhere if it wasn't important." Dean told him placing the last articles of clothing into his bag and closing it.

"Dean incase you haven't noticed Dad isn't here. We have been making our own decisions ever since he went missing."

"Sammy I want to get out of here and onto something new. We're going. End of story now, get your shit together." He told his brother firmly and then headed out to his car.

Sam shook his head. Them having to follow their father's orders especially now the way Sam was feeling, was getting old fast. Dean was a stubborn bastard and he still didn't really understand why Dean always jumped to follow their father's orders like the good little soldier, he never had understood.

Sighing Sam packed his back and then made sure that they had cleaned the place out of anything they had came with, then walked out carrying his bag and shutting the door behind him.

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After tearing out of the Motel's car park Dean stopped at the first diner he saw as he realized in his haste to leave he had forgotten to look where the coordinates his father had sent, lead. Once inside the diner Dean went up to the counter to order a small breakfast for the both of them while Sam sat down in a booth and opened up his laptop in order to look up the coordinates.

He looked up when he heard Dean approaching their booth and noticed that the waitress was taking a good look at his retreating form. Sam shook his head, even when his brother didn't try he still managed to pull female attention wherever they went.

"What?" Dean asked self consciously when he saw the look on Sam's face.

"Nothing,"

"Right," Dean said sitting down across from Sam "So where are we headed?"

"Colorado, Colorado Springs to be exact." Sam informed him as he turned his laptop around to show Dean the map.

"Good okay well as soon as we eat we take off."

"Okay but do you want me to drive first?" Sam asked as the waitress came up to their booth with their breakfasts.

Dean plastered a grin on his face for the waitress which earned him flirting smile back. Sam just rolled his eyes and thanked her for their meals.

Dean turned back to Sam with a frown, "Dude why do you always have to ruin my fun?"

"I thought you wanted to get out of here straight away. That leaves no time for that sort of fun.

"Simply flirting with the opposite sex can be fun, you should try it sometime Geek." Dean teased smirking.

"Whatever man now did you want me to drive or not?"

"Hell no! Me and my baby need some quality time on the road," Dean said sticking some bacon in his mouth "She's sick of you driving her like a grandma."

"You do realize you have a sick attachment to that car." Sam pointed out to him.

"You're just jealous you don't have a sexy car like that!"

"Whatever dude, just eat!"

Dean chuckled to himself. He had to admit he loved to get his brother frustrated. He was looking forward to getting back on the road. A nice long drive in his beloved car was just what he needed to put the state of Nebraska behind him.

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Hey everyone who has actually read this. I hope you liked it as it is my first attempt at writing a Supernatural fic so please please **Review **if ya can it would be great:-) 


	2. Arriving

**Authors note: **Hey thanks everyone for reviewing I really appreciate it.

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**Beneath the Surface**

**2. Arriving**

Sam looked out at the darkened sky as he drove his brothers precious Impala. Dean had finally relented a few hours ago and let Sam behind the wheel, after nearly falling asleep while driving. Sam had been waiting for the lack of sleep to catch up to his stubborn brother and eventually no amount of loud music was keeping him alert. Sam had to give his brothers endurance credit thought, for even after they had finally swapped seats, Dean still refused to fall asleep straight away. It took at least 2 hours before his body's needs overrode what Dean wanted.

It had been at least an hour since Dean fell asleep and Sam was grateful that he had managed to stay asleep so far. Although looking at his brother, Sam realized that Dean's sleep was anything but peaceful. Dean's face was in a constant frown and his neck looked to be in the most uncomfortable position, which Sam was sure his neck was going to be incredibly sore when he woke up. Despite this fact Sam didn't have the heart to wake him, Dean needed the sleep.

Thankfully because of Dean's fast driving they were almost in Colorado Springs after driving almost all day, which was a good thing because Sam was tired of being in the car and they could both use a bed right about now. If it wasn't for their fathers text message Sam would have suggested that they take a little time to regroup after Dean's little brush with death.

Sam knew that that was the reason Dean was having trouble sleeping. Sam also knew that Dean still blamed himself for Marshall Hall's death and Layla's impending death. In fact Sam was sure that Dean would always feel guilty about it no matter how many times Sam told him otherwise. Not that Dean would actually talk about it. No Dean was going to bottle it all up and try to deal with his emotions all by himself like he always did. Sam would let it go for now because he knew that Dean liked to avoid chick-flick moments like the plague, but if he saw that it was starting to get too much then he was going to intervene whether Dean liked it or not.

He still couldn't stop feeling anger every time he thought of his father. He was wondering what the hell his father had been thinking when he got Sam's message, telling him about Dean dying. For as long as Sam could remember John's obsession had always come before anything they had wanted. But Sam had honestly hoped that when push came to shove and his sons really needed him that he would come through for them. Ever since Jessica had been killed Sam had had a better understanding of John'sthirst for revenge. There was nothing more that Sam wanted than to get the evil son of a bitch that had taken his mother and then the love of his life, but not at the expense of his family. Dean's life and his fathers for that matter were more important. He had heard John say time and again that Dean and Sam were all he had left, but when his eldest son was dying he did nothing but send them more coordinates. Not only did Dean need him but Sam himself could have used the support because he wasn't sure what he would have done, had Deanactuallyhave died. Sam probably would have been less angry if John hadn't have contacted them at all, because now Sam just got the impression that their father was too absorbed in his crusade to care.

Sam shook his head to clear it. Thinking about their dad was just making him angry and he realized the angrier he got the more increased in speed they got. He eased his foot off the accelerator and slowed down to the speed limit.

In the distance Sam could see the sign welcoming them to Colorado Springs and gave a sigh of relief. It had been a long day. Still on the main roadhe saw a Motel coming up and thought it was probably a good idea to stop there for the night. It was just outside of town, but close enough to not be a problem if they decided to stay there for the duration of this job. As they got closer Sam could see the neon Motel Sign saying "The Cascade Hills Motel" and thankfully it was advertising vacancies.

Sam looked towards his brother when he heard him mumble something in his sleep, as he turned the car into the Motel parking lot. He parked the car and turned towards the passenger seat to see if Dean was going to wake up. He shifted a bit but otherwise showed no signs of waking. Sam shrugged his shoulders and opened the car door with a loud creak, causing Dean to start awake.

"I'm sorry!" he called out

Sam stuck his head back into the car, "What?"

Dean looked confused for a moment, then taking a look at his surroundings and realized he was sitting in his car. "What?" he asked.

"You said you were sorry! For what?"

"I did?" Dean asked; "Um it was nothing." he lied

"You're sure?" Sam asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah. It was just a dream," Dean said bringing his hand up to massage his sore neck "Dude how long was I asleep for? My neck is killing me."

"Oh about an hour. I just pulled up to a Motel not far from town."

"Oh Okay. I guess I'll get our bags." Dean told him opening the door and getting out of the car, stretching.

"I'll be back in a moment." Sam said tossing Dean the keys and heading towards the main building to get their room.

Dean caught the keys with ease and watched Sam walk towards the main building of the Motel. He sighed. If it wasn't bad enough that he couldn't stop thinking about Nebraska when he was awake, when he finally did manage to fall asleep he still couldn't escape it. He could still see Layla's face clear as day. Although in his dream Layla was already dead and Layla's mother was blaming him. He had had nothing to say to the grieving woman but sorry. But sorry wasn't good enough, because in Dean's eyes he was to blame. He ground his palm into his tired eyes and tried to shake off the dream. He walked over to the trunk and opened it, then grabbed both his and Sam's bags from on top of his secret weapons compartment and dumped them on the asphalt next to the car. After closing the trunk he leaned back against his car, relishing the cool night air, while waiting for Sam to come back with their room keys.

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Sam opened the glass door to the Motel lobby and walked in. The kid at the counter looked up upon hearing Sam enter and put down the magazine he had been reading. He didn't look to be any older than 16 years old, wearing the typical homeboy gear that teenage boys seem to like.

"Hey Man! You want me to hook you up with a room?" the kid asked.

"Yeah that would be great," Sam answered ever so politely "I need one withtwo beds if you have them please." he added hopefully.

"No worries, how long?"

"At the moment just for the night."

"No Problem. That'll be fifty nine bucks. Cash or credit?"

Sam wasn't exactly thrilled scamming credit card companies but right now they just didn't have the funds and it was better than sleeping in the car.

"You take Mastercard?" he asked looking up at the kid while taking out his wallet.

"Sure do!"

"Here ya go." Sam said handing him the card that Dean had applied for him, with the name Sam Hill on it. He mentally shook his head at his brother's choice in fake names.

"So anything going on around here of any interest?" Sam asked as the kid processed his card.

"Nah not really," the kid said, then looked thoughtful "Well unless you count the freak bear attacks lately." He added.

"What do you mean **freak **bear attacks?"

"Oh up at Pikes Peak a few of the tourists have gone missing. Cops are thinking it's a grizzly."

"Wouldn't they have found bodies if it was a bear attack?" Sam asked taking the card back.

"Well that's why I said freak. Anyways I'm not really sure of the full story." The kid explained taking Sam's signed credit card slip from him.

"Okay well thanks …"

"Joel." The kid supplied.

"Thanks Joel." Sam said smiling before walking out the back to where Dean was waiting by the Impala.

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Dean who had been laying on his back on top of the Impala's trunk, got up when he heard Sam approaching.

"Dude what took you so long?"he asked irritably.

"It wasn't that long and I was chatting to the kid, Joel, in there. Apparently there have been some bear attacks at Pikes peak."

"And?" Dean asked grabbing his bag and following Sam to their room.

"I'll tell you later lets just get some rest," Sam told him and then looked at his watch "It's already eleven pm"

"OoOo past you bedtime is it Sammy?" Dean teased.

"Shut up jerk." Sam replied opening the door to their room.

"You shut up bitch!"

Sam just shook his head at his brother as he closed the Motel room door.

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**TBC ...**

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**Hope this wasnt too bad, reviews are great so if ya feel like it drop me a line :-) 


	3. Dreaming, Showering and Grey's Anatomy

**Authors note: **Once again thanks for all the reviews :-)**

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**Chapter 3. Dreaming, Showering and Grey's Anatomy**

_Dean walked slowly across the grass towards where he could see the group of people, all dressed in black, gathered. The sky was grey, cloudy and looked like it could pour down rain at any minute. Stepping past numerous tombstones he finally made it to where all the people were gathered. He couldn't recognize anyone just yet and he had an uneasy feeling in his stomach as everyone turned around and faced him, a mixture of sorrow and anger on their faces. He watched as the group parted allowing him through. He felt like a prisoner on death row being marched to his death. Despite this feeling he felt his feet moving of their own accord and he made his way through the sea of mourners, coming to a stop at the edge of a newly filled grave. He lifted his eyes up to the headstone and saw what he had already feared was written there. There on the Marble headstone was the name:_

_**Layla Rourke**_

_**Beloved Daughter**_

_**1978 - 2006**_

_He felt a burning sensation at the back of his eyes as tears that threatened to shed appeared in his green depths._

"_Her death was your fault!"_

_Dean looked up and to his left and found Mrs. Rourke standing next to him, her eyes giving him a cold, hard glare. He opened his mouth to reply but the words were lost on his lips._

"_Why did you deserve to live more than my daughter?" she asked him, just like she had that day on Roy La Grange's steps._

"_I didn't," Dean choked out "I'm so, so sorry!"_

"_Sorry doesn't bring my daughter back" she growled angrily._

"_Why did you do it Dean?"_

_Dean spun around and saw Layla standing behind him. She looked as pale as death, "What? Layla how can you be …"_

"_Why did you do it Dean?" she repeated taking a step toward him._

_Dean took an involuntary step back, confused by the turn of events, "You don't understand! Roy wasn't what everyone thought he was." He desperately tried to explain._

"_He healed you! Why couldn't you let him heal me? I deserved to live!" she spoke, her voice rising slightly, yet still oddly calm._

"_I'm sorry! You deserve to live so much more than me!" He told her brokenly_

"_Yes she did!" Mrs. Rourke exclaimed loudly taking a step toward him herself, making him step back further toward the grave._

"_You're a failure Dean. You always have been."_

_Dean turned cold upon hearing that familiar voice and looked towards the crowed to see the one and only John Winchester walk out to stand next to Layla._

"_Dad?"_

"_Because of your stupidity down in that basement you almost left your brother alone." John told him menacingly._

"_Dad?" What?"_

"_You are supposed to protect your brother at all costs. How can you do that if you get yourself killed?" John asked and walked towards his eldest son._

_Dean went to answer, but his father cut him off by grabbing his shoulder hard, forcing Dean to his knees. "You always have been useless!"_

"_Dad!"_

"_Maybe Sammy would be safer if you weren't around anymore." John said, gripping Dean's shoulder even harder and giving him a good shake, making him cry out in pain._

"_Dad I'm sorry!" Dean cried out. _

_He knew deep down that it was true that he had failed many times. Every time Sam got hurt Dean counted as one of his personal failures. His father had given him the responsibility of looking out for his baby brother and he was failing miserably._

"_It should have been you!" Mrs. Rourke made herself known again._

_Dean squinted up at his father's angry face and then looked around and noticed he still had an audience. The group of mourners had made a circle around them and the grave and they had begun to chant, "It should have been you, it should have been you, it should have been you …"_

_He was brought back to the matter at hand when he was roughly turned around to face the grave by his father, who still had a painful grip on his shoulder. Dean was shocked to see that the grave was now empty. He looked up and was even more shocked to see that the headstone was now just made out of plain stone and simply read:_

_**Dean Winchester**_

_**Unworthy Disappointment**_

_**1979 – 2006**_

_All of a sudden the downpour that had threatened to come before pelted down on everyone, the sound drowning out the mourners chants to a mere whisper._

_Mrs. Rourke leaned in close "Now to make things right."_

_John dragged him closer to the grave, causing Dean to slide in the mud. Dean looked up at his father once again, the rain getting in his eyes. John leant down, getting his mouth close to Dean's ear. "This is best for everyone."_

"_No! Dad, I'm sorry it won't happen again!" he shouted through the rain struggling in his fathers grip._

"_No it won't." John told him and with that said, gave his son a final shove into the empty grave._

"Nooooo!" Dean screamed and shot up in his bed, his now healthy heart hammering in his chest.

Dean's frantic eyes looked around the room and he realized he was in the Motel room that Sam had got for them. Looking down he realized he was drenched with sweat and his legs were tangled in the bed sheets. He brought a shaky hand up to his face and wiped it over his sweaty face, trying to regulate his breathing. /_Man that was some dream/ _he sighed to himself. Once he felt he had things under control he looked towards his brother's bed and panicked when he saw that it was very empty. He jumped up out of the bed only for his tangled up legs to trip him up and land him heavily on his butt on the floor.

"Ouch!" he mouthed as he tried to get up, almost tripping himself up again before finally getting himself free from the bed sheets. He looked around the room and took inventory. Sam's bed was empty, the TV was on and his panicked eased as he took notice of the sound of the shower running. Sighing, he eased himself back down onto his bed and looked at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed. It read 5:30am.

Funny thing was Dean didn't even remember falling asleep. He remembered walking into the Motel room and dumping his bag by the bed closest to the door, as per procedure anywhere they stayed. He remembered slumping on his bed and listening to Sam saying something about some bear attacks or something. He must have drifted off. And what did he get for his little detour into sleep land? Another God damned nightmare. This one had been even worse than the others. Despite waking up in a sweat, he shivered. He could still feel the cold of the rain and the pressure of his dad's fingers digging into his shoulder. _/Where the hell had that come from/ _He wondered to himself.

Well at least one good thing had come from this, he had gotten at least a decent amount of sleep and he had woken up from his nightmare while Sam was still in the shower. He really didn't want his nosey little brother asking any more questions. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his feelings about the whole mess that happened in Nebraska. So the less Sam knew the better in his book.

What he really wanted right now was to have a nice hot shower but since he could still hear the shower going that wasn't an option yet. Instead he turned to the TV to see what was playing. An episode of Grey's Anatomy was playing on the cable channel that Sam had apparently left it on. He was going to change the channel when something caught his attention. The guy in the hospital bed reminded him of someone he just couldn't put his finger on it. Letting the episode continue to play, Dean heard the shower turn off.

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Sam stuck his head under the hot spray from the shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water over his body. Thankfully Dean had pretty much fell asleep not long after his head hit the pillow and stayed that way through the whole night. Sam him self had woken up at four am and couldn't get back to sleep so had turned on the TV. Eventually he realized he wasn't going to get back to sleep so decided he may as well have a shower now.

Sam sighed and turned off the shower. It would have been nice to stay in there longer but if Dean woke up and he had used all the hot water his brother would kill him. Stepping out of the shower Sam grabbed his towel, dried him self off and then proceeded to get dressed in clean clothes that he had found in his bag. They really needed to get some laundry done. He was starting to run out of clean clothes and he was sure that Dean was in the same situation, although it was hard to tell in Dean's bag considering he tended to just lump everything in together. His big brother could be a slob sometimes.

Once he finished getting dressed he walked out of the bathroom while trying to dry off his shaggy brown hair with a towel, as best he could. Sam figured that was the best he was gonna get it and chucked the towel on a chair and looked to see Dean sitting on his bed riveted to the TV.

"Morning. What are ya watching?"

"Oh Hey. Oh it's just an episode of that Grey's Anatomy," Dean explained and then pointed to the screen "Hey doesn't that dude remind you of someone?"

Sam looked at the guy in the hospital bed that Dean was pointing to. "Um, no Not really."

The room was silent for a few moments so Sam went over to his bag to put away his laundry when Dean interrupted him.

"I got it!"

"What insanity? I've known that for a long time Dean." Sam chuckled to him self.

"No Smartass, I know who that guy reminds me of. Dad, kinda."

"No way Dude, Denny actually smiles."

"You know his name?" Dean asked "And Dad smiles, sometimes." He added

"He smiles rarely and yes I know his name because Jess used to love this show." Sam told his brother walking back over to his own bed. "I would have thought you were sick of hospitals by now, what are you doing watching this anyway?"

"Well I was trying to figure out who the guy reminded me of. It's kind of ironic that his heart is failing him."

"Yeah well he ends up dying, could we watch something else now please?" Sam asked. He had just come close to losing his brother to a bad heart; he was not in the mood to watch a TV show that hit so close to home.

"Well that's depressing." Dean said looking disappointed but flipping through the channels anyway at Sam's request.

Dean continued to flip through the channels finding nothing that was of any real interest so threw the remote into Sam's lap, "I'm gonna go take a shower and you better have not used all the hot water or I will so kill you."

Sam gave him a mock scared look and went back to channel serving until he found the news channel. Dean rummaged through his bag quickly and surprisingly found a clean t-shirt, jeans and boxers. He headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him blocking out the sound of the news playing on TV. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower after turning the water on. Finally he was able to cleanse him self partly of that damn dream.

TBC ...

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Hope this was okay :-)Hopefully i will postagain very soon.**Reviews **are more than welcome


	4. Meeting Mrs Carter

**Authors Note: **Once again thanks for the feedback. I'm sorry it has taken a while to post the next chapter. I have been in the middle of packing. Hopefully i will be able to udate alot sooner next time :-) Hope you like it.**

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**Chapter 4. Meeting Mrs. Carter**

"So what have we got?" Dean asked as their waitress walked away leaving them with breakfast.

"Well I did a little researching on the net while you were in the shower and came up with nothing," Sam told him then took a bite of his food. "But while I was doing that a news report came on, once again mentioning these bear attacks that I heard about last night." he continued after swallowing his mouthful.

"What's so supernatural about bear attacks?"

"Well nothing usually but then usually when there is a bear attack, most of the time you'll find a body. Now …"

"Still it's a bit of a stretch don't ya think?"

"As I was saying, before you interrupted me jerk, now the authorities wouldn't find it so bizarre if it wasn't happening so often. Apparently every two or so weeks a person or persons goes missing."

"What makes them think it is a bear attack in the first place. I mean these people could have just gotten lost." Dean told him, still a bit skeptical about the whole bear thing.

"Well maybe we should just check it out. We won't know unless we take a look."

"Sam I'm a ghost hunter" he said lowering his voice and leaning forward a bit so other people sitting close by couldn't hear "not a bear hunter."

"May I remind you that you're the one that wanted to do this job? I have come up with nothing else so far, so unless you want to skip out on this then I say we look into it." Sam said getting frustrated. "Unless of course Dad would like to fill us in on what exactly it is he wants us to do, but no that would be too much to ask for." he added bitterly.

Dean rolled his eyes. He knew that Sam and their Dad had a strained relationship but Sam seemed extra angry over the last week or so.

"Do we have to start this again." he groaned.

"No Dean why would we ever do something like that?" Sam asked sarcastically, stabbing his food with his fork with a little more force than necessary.

"What's with you lately?"

Sam sighed. This was not the time or the place to get into this. "Nothing. Look I got to go to the bathroom." he said popping some more of his breakfast in his mouth before standing up and walking off to the bathroom.

Dean watched his brother go. He sat their confused. How did a nice morning breakfast almost turn into an argument? It seemed to be easier to get under Sam's skin than usual. He looked down at his still full plate of food. If he was honest with himself he hadn't been all that hungry after the dream he had woken up from and his appetite hadn't returned to him. He pushed his plate to the side and looked over when he heard his brother's return.

As Sam returned he saw that Dean had pushed his full plate of food off to the side and he frowned. It wasn't like Dean to turn down a meal, especially a meal that they had had to spend money on.

"You haven't eaten anything." Sam stated more than asked as he sat back down.

"I just don't feel that hungry, I'll eat something later."

"Okay just make sure you do."

"Okay Dad," Dean smirked as Sam rolled his eyes "Look Sammy lets just go check out these bear attacks and we'll see where it leads us. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Well I guess we'll start by going up to the Ranger Station at Pikes Peak and ask the rangers some questions."

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Dean smoothly pulled into the dirt parking lot of the Ranger Station. He killed the engine then grabbed the box containing all, their fake Id's.

"Okay which shall it be this time?" he asked his brother flipping through the number of id's sitting in the box.

"Well the news mentioned that one of the most recent missing tourist was a Californian cop."

"So, out of state cops it is then." Dean said, throwing Sam a cop badge and id and exited the car.

The Ranger Station was looked to be made out of big pine logs. It beautifully constructed, with a big veranda stretched right across the front of the lodge. It reminded Sam of the place he had stayed with Jessica one summer during the school break. Her parents owned a cabin up near Lake Tahoe. It had been the first real family vacation he had been on. Jessica's family had accepted him with no problems and he had had a blast.

The air at Pikes Peak was invigorating and made Sam realize how much he loves these type of places. The Ranger station was surrounded by thick tall trees and was a bit high up judging by the winding mountain road they had just drove up. Sam couldn't help smiling as he thought of the way Dean had been grumbling the whole way up there because he had to slow his driving due to the winding road.

"What are you smiling about?" Dean asked bringing Sam out of his thoughts.

"Nothing. This place just brings up some good memories."

"When have you ever been to a place like this?"

"Jess's family had a cabin up at Lake Tahoe. We went there with her family one summer."

"Oh," was all Dean said before they heard shouting coming from inside the station "What the …?"

The stations doors burst open when a woman was manhandled out of the station by a short female ranger. "I'm sorry Ma'am but there is nothing you can do here. Let us handle it."

"Oh yes because that has worked so far," she snapped sarcastically, shrugging off the ranger's hold "It's been three weeks and you still have no idea where my husband is or what happened to him."

"Excuse me," Dean spoke up, walking the remaining distance between them "What's the problem here?"

"Who are you?" the female ranger asked

"Detective Morrison, this is my partner Detective Hunter. We're out of state cops from California, Ranger … Anderson." Dean explained looking at the tag on the Ranger's shirt and flashing her, his badge quickly.

"You here about that copper that went missing here last week?" she asked him.

"Yes. Yes we are. We were just coming in to see you when we heard the commotion. Is there anything we can do to help?" Sam asked in his soft voice that always seemed to be able to get people to open up.

"No Mrs. Carter was just leaving." Anderson told them giving the upset young brunette a meaningful look.

"No I was not just leaving. I told you I am not leaving until I get some answers."

"Mrs. Carter your daughter was out there with him. If she could tell us if she saw something it might help us."

"She's just a scared five year old little girl …"

"Wait! Your daughter was out there with your husband?" Dean butted in.

"Yes."

"I didn't know any survivors had been found." Sam said out loud to himself.

"The police are keeping that quiet for now, so as not to make it any harder on her as it is," Ranger Anderson supplied then turned back to Mrs. Carter "Now if I find you snooping around out there again I'll have you arrested. Please leave this up to the professionals."

"You haven't heard the last of this." the distraught young wife told the ranger angrily, then stormed off in the direction of her car.

"Fiery." Dean commented as he watched her go.

"Rachel Carter certainly is that, but considering what her and her daughter are going through right now I can understand her frustration."

"So her daughter was out there when her husband went missing?" Sam asked

"Yeah poor little thing. The search team found her hiding in a bush shivering, terrified. She hasn't said much about what she saw if she saw anything at all. So what can I do for you boys?" She asked giving them a sweet smile.

"Well as we said we are here about the cop that went missing."

"Officer O'Connell?"

"That's right. He was a friend of ours. Our superiors sent us out here to see if we can help the investigation at all. We have skills in tracking." Sam explained. Then all three of them looked up when they heard cursing coming from the car park.

"Looks like Mrs. Carter is having trouble with her car." Dean observed, then winced as he watched her kick the side of the car, obviously hurting her foot.

"I'll be back."

Sam watched his brother walk over to Mrs. Carter and thought that this would be a good chance for his brother to have a chat with the woman while he chatted to the ranger.

"So Ranger Anderson I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?" Sam asked her politely.

"Sure come on in," she said directing him up the stations steps "and you can call me Cindy."

"Okay Cindy." Sam smiled as he entered the station.

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Dean approached the car cautiously, knowing that the young woman was upset. "Can I give you a hand?"

"No! I'm fine." Rachel snapped in his direction.

She yanked on her door handle once more before once again cursing at her car and pulling out her cell phone.

"Honestly I know a thing or two about cars, I might be able to help." he tried to appease. He put his hand on her arm, stopping her from using her phone.

"Look its okay I just locked my damn keys in my car. I'll just call a locksmith or something." She told him running a shaking hand through her long brown hair.

"There's no need. I can get your car open for ya. Besides those guys charge you a fortune and there not even a little bit as good looking as me." he told her cheekily.

Rachel raised her eyebrows at that. "Love yourself much."

"What's not to love?" he asked smiling "Seriously let me have a go."

"Umm … okay but if you scratch or wreck my car I will kill you."

"Deal, but if I manage to get in can I ask you a few questions?"

"A few."

"Good it's a deal. Okay this will only take a moment." he said cockily taking his lock picking it out of his jacket.

Rachel watched him work for a minute "I thought u were a cop. You look a little comfortable there breaking into my car."

"All part of the job ya know. Gotta know how to pick a lock in case of emergencies." he told her as he worked.

It wasn't a lie all together because in his line of work he did need to know how to pick a lock. Something his father had taught both him and Sam when they were still just children.

"Right."

A moment later the car door lock popped up. Dean stood up and opened the door and reached in, picking up the keys. He dangled the keys in front of Rachel and she grabbed them out of his hands.

"Thanks."

"No problem at all." he told her a proud smirk on his face.

"I believe you wanted to ask me a few questions."

"Yeah. Does your husband have experience out in the wilderness?" Dean asked her, leaning up against the car next to her.

"Are you kidding me? I think Pete was born out in the wilderness. He's camped just about everywhere I can think of."

"So that's what he was doing out there at Pikes Peak? Camping?"

"Well he went out there with a group. Sort of like this tourist thing. I had to work during the weekend he went away so he thought it would be a good opportunity to take Katie camping. Of course he couldn't just take her somewhere local," she told him rolling her eyes. "I got worried when I didn't hear from him by Sunday night so I rang the park and they told me that they hadn't heard from the group. That's when I made my way out here. That was 3 weeks ago and they still haven't figured out what happened to him."

"I'm sorry," Dean told her sincerely "What about Katie? The ranger said they found her during the search in a bush."

"Yeah thank god for that at least. She hasn't spoken much since its happened and so far she'll only talk to me. But so far she hasn't opened up about what happened out there. That's even if she saw anything."

"If she did see something, she is probably still in shock. Maybe in time she might remember."

"Maybe. I'm just worried that we're gonna be too late to find Pete," She said tears starting to form in her brown eyes "Sorry I should get back to Katie, Thanks for the help with the car." she told him abruptly, wiping her hand across her eyes.

"Hey wait. Maybe I could talk to Katie?"

"Oh I don't know Mr. like I said she won't talk to anyone else and she's still quite shaken up." Rachel replied looking unsure.

"It's worth a try isn't it? I've been known to have a way with kids" Dean told her showing his charming smile "Look heres my number if you change your mind give me a call anytime. We're only trying to help. Honest." he told her writing down his number and handing it to her.

"Thanks Detective. I'll think about it."

"It's Dean and it's not a problem." he waved to her as she got into her car and drove off down the road.

He stood there in the car park watching her departing car. He decided that he should get back to Sam and see what was happening there. He turned around in order to walk back towards the Ranger Station and walked straight into Sam making him jump.

"Scared ya?" Sam asked laughing.

"Dude I wasn't scared. You just startled me." Dean said indignantly.

"Dean, that's the same thing."

"No it's totally not Dude."

"Let me guess you're right because you're older?"

"You're starting to understand Sammy."

"Whatever moron." Sam said laughing.

"So what happened?" Dean asked as he and Sam made their way over to his car.

"Well Cindy the helpful ranger told me that Officer Jack O'Connell came up here on a holiday with a friend. Just for a day trip. They got separated from their guide and no-one has been able to find any sign of them since."

"So what makes them think it was a bear?" Dean asked unlocking his car door and then leaning his arms on the roof.

"Well so far four groups have gone missing, one group every two weeks. Rachel Carter's husband being the last lot. They haven't found any bodies yet but they have found some blood. Which, right now they are assuming, more than know, that it is a bear."

"hmm."

"What did you get from Mrs. Carter?"

"What say I tell you on the way back to the Motel. We do have an hour and a half drive." Dean suggested sitting in his seat and unlocking Sam's side.

As soon as Sam closed the door Dean backed the Impala up and took off down the winding mountain road.

TBC ...

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Keep the **reviews **coming lol :-) 


	5. Lunch

**Authors Note: **Thanks for the reviews. I finally managed to get this chapter up a lot quicker. :-)

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Chapter 5. Lunch

Dean sat tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of his precious Impala to the sounds of AC/DC, waiting for Sam to come back out of the fast food restaurant with their food. After their long drive back from the ranger station Sam had suggested they go into town and check it out. Check out what Dean still didn't know but he was willing to go along with it. Sam seemed to be getting into the new gig. Although still wasn't entirely sure that this was what their father had sent them here for. Nothing about the case had shouted Supernatural yet. But as Sam had pointed out before, they had looked into less.

He looked over at the restaurant window and saw that Sam was still waiting for their food. It looked like it was going to be a little while longer so Dean turned the car radio off and reached into his pocket for his phone. Now would be the perfect time to call his father. He would rather do it while Sam was out of earshot since Sam seemed extra pissed at their father at the moment. He flipped his phone open and searched through his contact list until he came upon his fathers name and pressed call. Putting the phone to his ear he listened and sighed when John's phone went straight to voicemail. He wasn't really surprised but it would be nice once and a while if his father would actually answer his phone. Dean hated not knowing if he was alright.

He waited through John's usual voice message telling callers to ring Dean if it was an emergency, then he heard the tone telling him to speak

"Hey Dad … Um it's Dean. Me and Sam are in Colorado Springs. Sammy seems to think that we might have a lead with something that's going on at Pikes Peak," Dean paused then continued "That's the only thing that we have found so far so if we are on the wrong track … umm … maybe give us a call or something," he gave a little humorless laugh at that suggestion, knowing how unlikely that would be.

"So anyway I … we hope you're doing okay. Okay bye." Dean ended, flipping the phone shut.

He sighed and looked up at the restaurant and saw that Sam was making his way over to the car with paper bags of food. He reached over and turned the car stereo on again just before Sam reached the car.

Sam opened the car door and sat down into the seat, chucking one of the paper bags in Dean's lap and turning down the music.

"Burger and fries," Sam told him and then passed him a bottle of coke.

"Thanks Sammy."

"It's Sam, your welcome and you better eat this time."

Dean raised his eyebrows at his last comment "I know you're a lot taller than me but you do realize that you are the little brother don't you?"

"Your point?"

"I'm supposed to boss you around not the other way."

"Maybe, in your little world which by the way I never want to venture."

"Dude all's right in my world." Dean told him opening the paper bag to find his burger and fries.

Sam snorted "Yeah right, just eat."

Sam dug into his burger straight away and looked up to see Dean starring into the bag. "Is this a new power you have developed? Being able to eat food with the power of your mind?" he laughed.

"Funny." Dean answered then picked up the burger and took a bite.

Up until that moment he hadn't realized just how hungry he was. But if he thought back he hadn't ate a proper meal in a few days. It had just been snacks and picking at his food. Once he realized how hungry he was he dug into his food with a new enthusiasm.

Sam watched his brother and was going to make a comment about his change of appetite but decided against it. He didn't want to push things. If Dean was eating then he thought he would just let that sleeping dog lie.

"So what do you want to do next?" Dean asked after polishing of the rest of his fries in record time.

Sam swallowed the food in his mouth "Well I picked up a newspaper, while I was getting the food, to satisfy your desire for another gig."

"It's not that I don't want this to be the job I just haven't seen anything yet that makes me believe that this is our kind of thing."

"Well anyway I think we should go back to the Motel and book a few more nights," Sam suggested "It's the closest Motel to Pikes Peak."

"Yeah, the closest being and hour and a half drive away."

Sam smiled. "I picked up some information at the rangers station about Pikes Peak and I'd also like to see what I can find on the net about the place."

Dean nodded "If we are really gonna delve into this then we should go to the police station and try to get a copy of the police reports. Well the missing person reports anyway."

"Good thinking." Sam told him grabbing both his and his brother's rubbish and went to chuck it into the back seat.

"Don't even think about it!" Dean told him seriously as he started the car.

"Dude we can take it out later." Sam complained, opening the car door ready to get out.

"I don't care. You're not dumping your rubbish in my baby."

"That just sounds sick." Sam grumbled as he got out of the car and started towards the rubbish bin.

"And you say my mind is always in the gutter." Dean shouted after him.

Dean chuckled as Sam gave him an obscene hand gesture.

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Rachel Carter finished making the sandwiches she had made for herself and her daughter for lunch. She was standing in the small kitchenette of the Motel room she had booked upon arrival in Colorado Springs. She looked up into the small living area to where Katie sat reading one of her books silently.

"Katie. Lunch is ready!"

"Okay Mummy!" the little girl said quietly and put down her book and made her way back to the small round table that was in the room.

Rachel watched as her little girl sat down and started eating her sandwich in silence. She sighed and took a seat across from her daughter and took a bite out of her own sandwich.

"Katie."

"Yes Mummy?" Katie looked up with her big brown eyes.

"I know a lot of people have been asking you this a lot honey but do you remember anything about when you were out camping with Daddy?" Rachel asked her looking hopeful. Every minute that went by she felt that Pete was slipping away from them.

Katie looked down at her sandwich and mumbled something.

Rachel leaned forward, reached out and lifted Katie's head with her hand "What was that honey?"

"I said that you won't believe me." She whispered quietly.

"Oh Katie of course I will believe you. Just … please tell me what you saw." Rachel pleaded, running her hand through Katie's too long brown fringe.

Katie shook her head, with tears in her eyes "No they said that it wasn't true!" she told her mother then got up and ran into the small bedroom, which held their too beds.

Rachel was at a loss. That was the most she had gotten out of her daughter about what had happened out there. At least now she knew for sure that Katie had seen something. But what did she mean that they said it wasn't true? Who were **they**? Rachel got up and put their sandwiches in the small bar fridge for later and then leaned up against the bench and put a hand through her hair. If she was going to get some answers she was going to have to tread very carefully.

She looked down at the bench and noticed that piece of paper with that cops cell phone number was still sitting where she had left it. Rachel picked up the piece of paper and felt undecided whether she should call him or not. He seemed generally concerned. He also had a charming quality that you couldn't help but like. Maybe it was worth a shot.

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Sam came walking back from getting their room keys once again and walked past Dean and up to the same room that they had stayed in the previous night.

"We get the same room?" Dean asked as he followed his brother.

"No the hotel clerk told me to just pick any room I want," Sam answered sarcastically getting a glare from Dean.

Sam opened the door and proceeded to put his bag on the bed closest to the door. Dean walked over and picked up Sam's bag and chucked it on the other remaining bed.

"Dean what are you doing?"

"That beds mine."

"Does it really matter?" Sam asked exasperatedly.

"Yes."

Dean went over to the small table and chairs and sat down with the newspaper and the Police reports they had managed to get from the cops. It was obvious to Sam that that conversation had ended. He walked over to the bed he was told to take and sat down. He opened his satchel and took out his lap top and proceeded to hook it up to the net. The room had fallen into silence except for Sam's typing and the sound of Dean turning the pages of the newspaper. All of a sudden the silence was killed by the sound of Dean's phone ringing on the table. He picked it up and flipped it open.

"Hello."

"Hello is this Dean Morrison?" asked a female voice.

"Yeah."

"Hi it's Rachel Carter. I met you earlier today at the ranger station up at Pike's Peak." Rachel introduced herself.

"Hey Rachel, what's up?"

Sam looked up upon hearing Rachel's name and took more interest in his brother's conversation.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to talk to Katie."

"Um, yeah sure!" Dean answered

Sam listened to the rest of the one sided conversation as Dean took down the address and directions. Sam closed his laptop as Dean said goodbye and flipped his phone closed ending the call.

"Did Rachel change her mind?" he asked getting up and putting on his jacket.

"Yeah apparently she talked to her daughter again today at lunch and she told her that she wouldn't believe her." Dean explained getting his jacket off the back of the chair and putting it on.

"Well hopefully we'll find out what happened out there."

"Yeah well just don't go freaking the kid out with your freakish height." Sam ignored his brothers teasing as the both made their way out the motel room door.

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Hope this was okay and keep the **reviews **coming :-) Please:-) I hope to update soon again. 


	6. Katie's Story

**Authors Note: **Thanks you to everyone who has been reviewing its really appreciated. :-)**

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**Chapter 6. Katie's story**

Dean turned the Impala right into the next street, remembering the directions that Rachel had given him on the phone. Rachel and Katie were staying in a small Motel in Colorado Springs itself instead of on the highway like Dean and Sam.

"Is that it?" Sam asked when the Motel came into view.

"Yep," Dean answered him, pulling the car to a stop on the street in front of the Motel "Find anything in those Police reports?"

"No. Well, nothing that we haven't already been told."

"Okay well let's see what Rachel and her daughter have to tell us huh?" Dean said shutting the car door and making his way up the driveway, Sam following behind him.

"Okay Rachel said they were in room 4." Dean told Sam as he came up to walk beside him.

Sam took a look at the Motel and found the number four on one of the doors and pointed to it "There it is."

The boys walked up to the door and Dean went to knock on the door when the door opened and they found themselves looking at Rachel.

"I saw you pull up," She said ushering them into the room "Nice car by the way." She added bringing an automatic smile to Dean's face.

"Thank you."

"No thank you for coming by. I don't know whether it will help but at the moment I am willing to try anything."

"It's not a problem, like I said we really just want to help." Dean told her

They all turned when they heard small footsteps and saw Katie standing in the bedroom doorway. Rachel turned towards her daughter "Hey sweetie," she said holding out her hand silently asking Katie to come to her

Katie eyed the two strange men warily but walked out slowly to her mother. Rachel bent down and picked her up and Katie's arms automatically went around her neck.

"Katie this is Detective Morrison and his partner Detective Hunter."

"Hey." Dean and Sam said simultaneously, Dean giving a little wave of his hand.

"Hi," Katie replied back quietly and then turned to Rachel "Mummy when is Daddy coming back?"

Rachel looked pained at the question "I don't know sweetie but the nice detectives want to help us find him. Do you think you could talk to them for a little bit?"

Katie shook her head and buried her face into her mother's neck. Rachel looked at Dean and Sam with a helpless look on her face.

Dean's face softened some more at Katie's actions. He remembered being a frightened kid when his mother died all those years ago. Thankfully though, that night any questions about his mother's death had been directed to his father. Katie had to deal with her father's disappearance on top of all types of people asking her what had happened. She kind of reminded him of that kid Lucas Baar, they had met months back, who had seen his father killed by some kid ghost that lived in a lake. He had seen the way Sam had seem surprised when he had connected with the kid. Sam didn't realize how much Dean saw himself in these kids, mainly because Dean rarely let his protective walls down around Sam. There was also this big part of Dean that hated to see kids scared, upset or sick. Maybe he was just used to looking out for little kids since he sacrificed his own childhood to look after Sam.

Dean brought his attention back to the matter at hand and step forward a bit so that the little girl would be able to hear him. "Katie … umm … I know that your missing your Dad right now and I think I sort of know how you feel," Dean told her, quickly looking at Sam then turning back to Katie "See my Dad is missing too. So we want to do everything we can to try and help find your dad."

He waited to see if she had been listening and was rewarded when she turned her face a little towards him "Did he get lost when he was camping?"

Dean smiled a sad smile "Yeah something like that."

Katie stared straight into Dean's eyes like she was trying to analyze if he was telling her the truth or not. _and who says kids are dumb _Dean thought to himself.

"Do you mind if we talk to you for a little while? Maybe you can help us." Dean asked hopefully

"Mummy and Daddy say I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."

"Well its okay honey. They're policemen and I'm gonna be right here." Rachel assured her daughter.

"Could you read me a story?" Katie asked looking at Dean

"How about this? I'll read you a story and then maybe if you want to you could tell me what happened on your camping trip?"

Katie seemed to think it over "Hmm … Okay." She agreed, struggling in her mothers hold a silent demand to be let down.

Once she was down she grabbed Dean by the sleeve of his leather jacket and pulled him over to the small couch and shoved her favourite book into his hands "My Daddy bought me this one. It's my most favouritest."

Dean looked down at the book and saw that it was a Dr. Zeuss book called Green Eggs and Ham. He cringed inwardly and glanced up at Sam and Rachel and saw that Sam had a smirk on his face. Sam was never going to let him live this down. His big tough brother was sitting down reading Dr. Zeuss. Katie jumped up on the couch next to him and waited patiently for him to start as he opened the book.

"Detective Hunter would you like a cup of coffee?" Rachel asked Sam bringing him back out of his daze.

"Um sure. That would be great! And please just call me Sam." Sam answered following Rachel to the small kitchenette.

Rachel flipped the switch on the kettle and turned around while waiting for the water to boil "So you partner seems to know what he is doing with kids. Does he have any?"

"Dean? No but um he basically raised his little brother. Besides the man is like a kid himself half the time so I guess he relates well to them." Sam couldn't help but add.

Rachel smiled at that "How long have you been partners?"

"A long time."

"You look a little young to be detectives." She commented as she turned around and filled their coffee mugs.

Sam winced a little while her back was turned. That, more often than not got commented on. "Um Thanks. We aren't as young as we look." He lied

Rachel handed him his coffee and gave him a skeptical look but let it drop. Both Sam and Rachel just watched Dean and Katie for a moment in silence.

"You know this is the first time she has opened up to another male besides Pete in a long time."

"What do you mean?"

Rachel sighed "Pete is not Katie's real father. Her biological father was a real jerk and he left us when Katie was two years old," Rachel explained "She was always real wary around other men after her Dad left, until Pete came along. She seemed to like him straight away and he adores her, spoils her rotten."

"Sounds like a good dad."

"He's been the best, which is why I really have to find him. Not knowing how he is or what's happened to him is killing me and I'm worried how it will affect Katie if he doesn't come back." She said with a slight tremble in her voice.

"We are gonna do everything we can to find your husband I promise."

"Thank you."

Sam gave her a kind smile and then looked over at Dean and saw that he had finished reading the story book and had Katie on his knee and she was giggling. His big brother never ceased to amaze him.

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"The End." Dean said when they came to the end of the story.

During the book Katie had leaned into his side and had seemed almost content there.

"You read that really good." She told him really seriously.

"Well thank you."

"Not as good as my Daddy but still pretty good."

Dean smiled and put down the book then lifted the little girl up onto his knee so he could talk to her face to face. He couldn't help but find the kid absolutely adorable. She had big brown eyes with a round little face and really big dimples. When he thought about it she kind of reminded him a bit of Sam when he was her age.

"I'm glad you liked it," Dean told her.

"You know what?" she asked in her little child voice.

"What's that?"

"You have the same eyes as my Dad"

"Well I promise to give them back." He said in mock seriousness.

"No silly you can't have his eyes, they just look the same." She giggled.

"You know you're right. Your just two smart for me." he told her earning him a small smile.

"My Daddy says that I am really smart." She told him proudly.

"Well your Dad seems like a really smart man."

"He is," Katie said then looked down at her hands in her lap. A minute later she looked up at Dean again "Tective Morrison, is my Daddy coming back?"

"Katie I swear to you that I am going to do everything in my power to find him. I am sure he misses you very much and is going to be so happy when he sees you again." Was all Dean could think to tell her.

"Do you miss your Daddy?"

"All the time."

Katie gave an understanding nod.

"Katie when you were out camping with your Dad … did you see what happened?"

"It wasn't real." She said tearfully.

"What wasn't real?" Dean asked gently.

Katie just shook her head stubbornly.

"Katie what's the matter? Are you afraid that I won't believe you?" Dean asked and received a quick little nod.

"Katie, look at my eyes," Dean told her and a few moments she looked up at his eyes "I promise you that whatever you tell me, I'll believe. I promise."

After still getting no response from the little girl on his lap Dean thought he would try another tactic "You wanna know a secret?"

"Sure." She sniffed.

"Okay but you can't tell anyone okay."

"I cross my heart." She assured him crossing her heart with her little hands.

"Okay well see my partner over there with your Mum?" Dean said and continued when Katie gave a quick nod "Well he's not really my partner." He whispered.

"Who is he?" she whispered back.

"He's my little brother."

"Really?"

"Sure is."

"Does he miss your Daddy too?" she asked innocently.

Dean looked over at his brother, who in turn gave him a quizzical look as if to say 'what?'. Dean looked back at Katie "Yeah I'm sure he does. That's why we both want to help find your Daddy."

Katie looked down at her hands for a moment again, thinking things over in her little head. She looked up again and straight into Dean's eyes "Do you promise that you will believe me?" she asked in a small voice.

"Cross my heart." he assured her mimicking her actions from before.

"Okay," she said shakily.

"What did you see?"

"A …a … monster." She finally said.

"A monster?" Dean asked, not expecting that answer "What did the monster look like?"

"Really, really scary." She whimpered snuggling in closer to him.

Dean rubbed her back "I'm sure it did honey. What do you remember about the monster?"

"It looked like a really big kitty, but not a good kitty a bad kitty but it had a funny head and it could talk."

"Okay," Dean said digesting this information "After the monster came what happened?"

Katie's eyes filled with more tears and they started falling down her cheeks. Dean quickly lifted up his hand and wiped some of the tears away "Hey its okay."

"The monster started hurting people and Daddy yelled at me to run, so I ran and ran to the bushes and hid in them coz I didn't want to get lost and I was scared and it took everybody away!" Katie told him all in one breath and then started crying again so Dean did the only thing he could do and he pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back as she cried.

He looked up and saw that Sam and Rachel were looking on from the kitchenette. Rachel looked like she was ready to burst over there, but Sam had obviously told her to wait it out. Dean gave Sam a small nod to let him know that everything was okay. Rachel made her way over to the two and ran her fingers through Katie's hair as she continued to hug Dean with all her might. As soon as Katie realized her mother was there she let go of Dean and flung herself at Rachel. Rachel grabbed her daughter and sat on the floor holding her.

Dean stood up awkwardly from the couch and walked over to where Sam was now standing by the table.

"So I assume she told you what she saw?" Sam asked, ignoring the fact that Dean's eyes were a little misty.

"Aha. She said she saw a monster that looked like a big bad cat with a funny looking head and it could talk. Ring any bells?" Dean asked looking back at Rachel and Katie, who had become quiet.

"Actually it might." Sam told him getting a surprised look from his brother but didn't have time to elaborate because Rachel had made her way over to the boys with a sniffling Katie in her arms.

"Hey. How ya doing?" Dean asked Katie

Katie turned around in Rachel's arms and nodded "You really believe me?"

"Of course I do. I crossed my heart didn't I?" Dean said smiling.

"Can you find my Daddy now?"

"We're gonna try sweetie. I promise you." Dean promised.

"Thanks for letting us speak with her Rachel." Sam piped in.

"No problem I hope it helped." Rachel replied.

"Thank you for believing me Tective Morrison." Katie sniffed.

"Hey we're friends now, call me Dean." Dean said shaking her hand.

"Okay Dean."

"Okay we better hit the road." Dean said nudging Sam towards the door.

"Thanks again for taking the time." Rachel said as she led the boys to the door.

Once outside Dean and Sam made their way back to the Impala. As Dean opened the door, he looked over the door and saw that Sam had that thoughtful look on his face.

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing really I was just thinking that there is a completely different side of you when your around little kids."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well at least I can answer that question."

Sam looked confused "What question?"

"You asked me once to name three children that I knew."

"Oh." Sam said as Dean started up the Impala.

Dean might not like chick flick moments with him or anyone else but when he was with kids Sam noticed that he tended to open up more to them. Seeing Dean with the kids they had met on the mission to find their father had shown Sam a softer side of his brother. It made him realize that Dean was going to make a hell of a father one of these days, if their life ever allowed it. He should have realized that along time ago though, because he had been a damn good father to him. The thought made him smile as Dean pulled out onto the street.

TBC ...

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Hope everyone liked this chapter. I hope to update again soon and reviews are more than welcome :-). Till next time ... 


	7. Guilt Reinforced

**Authors Note: **Thanks again to everyone that reviewed. It makes the world of difference :-)**

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**Chapter 7. Guilt Reinforced.**

Dean sighed as he pulled away from the curb outside of Rachel and Katie's Motel room. He looked over and at Sam and frowned when he saw that Sam was smiling.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," Sam replied 'You did good in there with Katie."

"Yeah well what can I say? No-one can resist my charms."

"Right." Sam chuckled.

Dean drove a bit further in silence thinking over his conversation with Katie. He hoped that their little talk and the fact that someone had actually listened to her had helped her. Now he just hoped that they could find her dad. He wasn't lying when he said that he understood what she was going through. He remembered how he felt when he first got that message from their father after he had gone missing warning him that something was happening and that they were all in danger. Even now, even though they were receiving text messages containing co-ordinates, making it obvious that the man was alive, Dean was still worried.

He looked back to Sam and realized they had been driving in silence for at least five minutes.

"So Sammy, you mentioned earlier that you might know what Katie's monster was. Care to Share?"

"Oh Yeah," Sam said looking back at Dean "The description sounds something like a Manticore."

"A Manta what?" Dean asked, his eyes rotating between the road and Sam

"Manticore," Sam explained "In short it's a mythical beast known as having the body of a lion and the face and ears of a human and apparently it has the ability to talk."

Dean nodded "Well that sounds like what Katie said she saw."

"That's not all," Sam continued "They are said to have a big appetite for humans."

"So they eat humans?"

"Yeah clothes, bones and all. That could explain why they haven't found any of the missing people."

"I don't remember hearing about these … creatures … from dad and there isn't anything about them in his journal. Where did you learn about them?"

"In the eighth grade I had to do an assignment on a mythical creature. I ended up getting the Manticore," Sam explained.

"Dude you were what 13 or 14 and you still remember some school project?"

"Well it was the one school assignment that Dad actually took an interest in, for the obvious reasons. He actually got me some of my research for that one."

Dean raised his eyebrows at that. Although Dean knew that their father thought that they should get an education, he had always left it up to Dean to make sure that both boys got to school and did their homework.

"Wow."

"Yeah," Sam said

"I read the police reports and they all say that the victims have gone missing from around the same area."

"Yeah the ranger told me that too." Sam added.

"Well I say we should go up there and take a look around." Dean suggested.

Sam took a look out the car window at the sky then looked at his watch "It will be starting to get dark in a few hours. We should wait until tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Dean agreed.

"Well at least there's no doubt now that this case is our type of gig."

"Yeah well I had a feeling." Dean said with a smirk as he pulled the car onto the highway, heading back to the motel.

Sam gave his brother an incredulous look "Oh whatever man."

"You see, I just wanted to test your investigative skills."

"You do know your delusional right?" Sam asked trying not to smile.

"Says the guy with the freaky visions,"

Sam gave a small laugh and settled down even more into his seat. He was just glad that his brother was back to cracking jokes and talking nonsense. Hopefully the whole reaper fiasco was totally behind them.

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Dean walked across the small room to the coffee machine and set about making himself a cup of coffee. He was becoming restless. Not long after they had come back to the motel Sam had set up his laptop and began researching the Manticore, just incase that was their culprit. He had been at it for the last two hours, researching in silence, leaving Dean with nothing to do. He had already read through the police reports again just to make sure that they hadn't missed something.

"You want a coffee?" Dean asked his little brother as he poured himself a cup.

Sam looked up from the computer screen "Yeah thanks that would be good."

Dean poured a second cup and then made his way over to the table where Sam had all his research set up and handed his brother the coffee

"Thanks." Sam thanked him taking a sip and placing the coffee on the table beside the laptop.

Dean sat down across from him drinking his coffee in silence. Sensing his brother's presence at the table Sam looked up.

"So?" Dean asked.

"So," Sam drawled out "It says here that the name Manticore is from the Old Persian Martikhora's meaning 'man-eater'."

Dean made a disgusted look on his face. The thought of actually been eaten by something made him sick.

"Now there are a few different stories but most say that it has the red body of a lion and the face and ears of a human, with blue eyes. Its tail is like that of scorpion. It has one main stinger and then lots of other smaller ones around it."

"What happens if a person gets shot with the stings?"

"Well this is where the story varies a bit. Some say that if you get stung that you instantly die. Others say that it just causes terrible pain or paralysis, sometimes even blindness. Then others say that the middle stinger is the only fatal one and the rest are non-fatal," Sam told him "your guess is as good as mine on which story is actually true."

"Where are they from?"

"Well it's reputed to roam the jungles of India. It's also apparently a cousin of the Egyptian sphinx. Oh and it also has a mouth that reaches to both sides of its ears. Here look." Sam said handing Dean a picture he had printed out earlier.

"Fugly looking dude," Dean commented while looking at the picture.

"Yeah,"

"What's one doing in Colorado?" Dean asked, swallowing the rest of his coffee.

"I have no idea. Remember we can't be sure that we are dealing with a Manticore just yet." Sam reminded him.

"Yeah well better to be prepared,"

"I'll see if I can find out some more stuff about it. Maybe find some kind of weakness or something, just incase we do run into one."

Dean sighed. That meant more boredom.

"I think I'm gonna go get us something to eat." Dean told him standing up and grabbing his jacket off the chair.

"Why don't you just order a pizza in or something? It's getting dark outside."

"Sam I'm a big boy. I think I candle going out in the dark to get us dinner and besides I need to get out of here. I'll be back soon." He answered shrugging on his jacket.

He walked over to the cabinet near the door and picked up his wallet, phone and car keys "You want anything in particular?"

"Nah, oh and drive safely please."

"I always do." Dean smirked and exited the motel room.

Once outside, Dean breathed in the fresh air. It felt good to be outside. Granted they hadn't been back at the motel that long but there was nothing on the TV and nothing to do, he didn't need his mind to have the chance to slow down and think about recent events.

With everything that had happened over the last day, meeting Rachel and Katie and getting stuck into the job, he hadn't had a chance to brood on everything and he was happy with having something else to think about. This had also made Sam stop asking questions, which he was also grateful for.

He opened the car door and slipped into the driver's seat and patted the steering wheel. The Impala was his one true love. Even when things were getting him down she could always make him a little better just by driving her around.

He started her up and relished in hearing her purr, then he pulled out of the parking spot and sped off onto the highway.

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Sam watched his brother walked out the door then looked back to the computer screen. He'd been surfing the net for the last two hours and found that there wasn't a lot about the Manticore. Well there was a decent amount of sites, but they all told him the same thing. There was also enough fan sites for the TV Show Dark Angel that came up when he had typed in Manticore on the Google search page. A lot of his college friends had been into that show mainly because they had been into Jessica Alba.

He rubbed the palms of his hands into his tired eyes. Looking into a computer screen for hour's non-stop didn't do much good for eyes, he decided. He stood up and stretched for a bit easing his muscles that had turned a bit stiff from sitting in the one position for too long.

"I guess I need a bit of a break too." He said aloud to himself.

He walked over to the coffee maker with his now empty cup and got himself a refill. Sam stood there smelling the coffees aroma. After a few minutes he made his way back to his computer and sat down ready to dig a little deeper into the mystery of the Manticore.

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When Dean finally got into town he was stopped by a red light. He took this chance to look down the street at all the different shops to decide what he felt like to eat. He saw a Chinese take away restaurant that was still open and thought that it had been a while since they had had Chinese. When the light turned green again he drove down and found a parking spot right outside the restaurant.

Once the car was parked, he exited the Impala and made his way into the restaurant. He ordered enough food for both him and Sam and then went and sat down next to the table that had a couple of old newspapers sitting on it.

Dean looked down at the newspapers and saw one that was dated about three weeks prior. He opened it up and starting flicking through the pages as he waited.

Five minutes later he saw an article that caught his eye. It was an article about Rachel and her husband's disappearance. He quickly ripped the page out when he heard that his food order was ready.

Shoving the paper into his pocket Dean paid for the food and headed back to his car. Once in the car he sat the food down on the passenger seat and pulled out the newspaper page that he had taken.

He had to read the first sentence a few times before it really sunk in.

'…_Peter Carter's wife Rachel, who recently lost her brother, Marshall Hall, to a failed heart …'_

Dean sat there starring at the picture of the small family next to the article. He couldn't believe it. Was this karma's way of kicking him in the ass? Of all the jobs that needed their attention it had to have a connection to Nebraska. Rachel Carter was Marshall Hall's sister. This new revelation made the guilty feelings he had felt ever since he had been healed comeback in full force. He had never met Marshall but he had now met Rachel and Katie. Rachel was now without a brother and Katie had lost an uncle and it was his fault.

Dean chucked the newspaper clipping on top of the containers of food and started up the car. If he didn't leave soon Sam would probably send out a search party.

Turning the car around and heading back towards the motel one thought continued to go through his mind. He was going to try his hardest to make sure that Rachel and Katie would not lose another member of their family, if he could help it.

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TBC ...

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Hope everyone liked it and i'll try to update soon. **Reviews** are moe than welcome :-) 


	8. The Talk

**Authors Note: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed i love knowing what you guys think :-)**

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**Chapter 8. The Talk**

Sam shut down his laptop when he decided that he had found all he was going to find in his search for the Manticore. He looked down at his watch and was just about to wonder where the hell Dean was when he heard the unmistakable sound of Dean's Impala.

Sam closed the laptop as Dean came though the door. He placed the bag of food he was carrying down in front of Sam then walked straight passed him towards the bathroom.

Sam looked at his brother with concern, sensing that something had changed in his brother's mood.

"Dean?" Sam asked causing Dean to pause in the doorway.

Dean turned his head towards his brother "Go ahead without me."

"Aren't you eating?"

"I'll have some later."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Dean replied shortly then stepped into the bathroom closing the door behind him effectively ending the conversation.

"Okay then." Sam whispered to himself as he turned to the food that had been placed in front of him.

It smelt like Chinese. That was a nice change from burgers and fries and all the other grease filled food that they were constantly eating on the road. He reached into the takeaway bag, his worries over Dean's mood change still at the forefront of his mind. What could have possibly happened now? He decided to give Dean some time to himself before he broke down the bathroom door and started asking questions.

After he finished taking all the white paper boxes out of the bag he started looking around for his phone. He thought he might check his voicemail while he was eating. He patted his jean pockets, finding nothing then moving onto his jacket that was lying on the end of his bed. When he failed to find it in there he stood up straighter and took a quick glance around the room but still couldn't see the elusive phone.

"Where the hell did I put my phone?" He asked himself aloud, scratching his head in confusion.

Seeing that it was nowhere in the room, he grabbed Dean's car keys and headed out to the car to see if he had accidentally left it in there. Walking outside the motel room he saw that it was now totally dark. He quickly made his way to the Impala and unlocked the passenger side door because if his phone was in here it would most likely be on that side. The inside light came on as soon as Sam opened the door and he bent down in order to search. He spotted his phone straight away on the floor and bent down further to pick it up when he noticed a piece of newspaper peaking out from under the seat that hadn't been there earlier.

He pocketed his phone and picked up the newspaper clipping, holding it under the light in order to read it. He recognized the picture of Rachel and Katie immediately. The man in the photo must be Peter Carter he theorized. Moving onto the article, Sam went cold inside.

"Oh you have to be kidding me."

Now he understood why Dean's mood had changed when he had gotten back to the motel. Shutting and locking the door Sam stood up and looked up at the dark sky and silently asked _/Why us/_

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Dean closed the door behind him and leaned back against it, closing his eyes. He would have thought that the drive back to the motel would have been long enough to get rid of the feelings swirling around inside him. But for some reason they all came crashing back when he walked in the door and saw Sam. Maybe that was because he didn't want to take the chance that Sam would notice something was up and start up his interrogation again. _/Well what a brilliant job I did at trying to act normal/ _he chastised himself. He just needed some time to settle down and he would be alright. He also didn't want to have to deal with Sam's inquiry's tonight.

He sighed heavily and pushed away from the door. Placing his hands on either side of the sink he leaned forward and looked at his reflection in the mirror. No wonder Sam was concerned he thought as he took in what he looked like. Although there was nothing outwardly wrong with him, his whole aurora had a sad and rattled feeling to it. Dean could tell just by looking at himself in the mirror and Sam had his own type of radar for that type of thing, especially when it came to Dean. There was no way he was going to get away with lying tonight.

He turned the cold water tap on and splashed his face a couple of times before turning it back off again.

He heard movement in the other room moments before he heard Sam open and close the front door to the motel. Moving quickly Dean opened the door and poked his head out and saw that the room was indeed empty, the Chinese food abandoned on the table.

He quickly walked over to the window and moved the curtain aside to take a look outside and saw that Sam was opening the passenger side door, meaning he wasn't going anywhere.

Closing the curtain a thought occurred to Dean. Maybe if he just went to bed now before Sam came back in Sam would think he was asleep and he would be free of questions tonight. He rushed over to his bed undressed and threw back the covers. He heard Sam shut the car door so he dove in and covered himself with the covers and closed his eyes. He knew this was so childish but he couldn't help it.

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After standing out in the cool air for a bit collecting his thoughts Sam made his way back into the motel room and saw that there was currently a human sized lump in Dean's bed when there hadn't been before. Sam looked down at his watch and raised his eyebrows when he saw that it was only eight o'clock at night, a strange time for Dean Winchester to be going to bed.

Sam closed the door and then quietly walked over to the head of Dean's bed and only saw bits of Dean's hair sticking out of the covers. Sam contemplated waking his brother to talk about the revelation in this current case but thought better of it. Maybe Dean would feel more like talking in the morning. He snorted at that thought. He doubted Dean would want to talk to him about it at all but that was his bad luck because Sam was sick and tired of Dean keeping all his feelings to himself. It wasn't healthy and if he kept it up it would just make things worse. Besides if they were really about face off with a Manticore then he needed Dean at the top of his game.

Walking back to the table, he sat down and started opening some of the boxes; he didn't see or hear Dean sigh with relief under the covers.

A short three hours later as Sam lay in his own bed trying to sleep he heard movement coming from his brother's side of the room. He looked over at his brother's bed and saw that he was starting to get restless. He could only imagine what was going on in his brother's head at the moment. Sam's dreams were no picnic at times and with everything that had been going on in their lives at the moment, he knew that it had been weighing heavily on his brother's mind, regardless of what Dean wanted him to believe.

He had half a mind to get up and go over to Dean's bed now and wake him up before his dreams started turning into a nightmare but thought that he should wait it out a bit longer and see if it was going to get any worse.

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_Dean found himself standing in a street staring at an unfamiliar building. He looked up at the sign above the main entrance, which told him that he was standing in front of some type of Gym. _

_Confused as to why he was here he found himself wondering where Sam was. He heard footsteps coming from the right of him and turned to see who it was. The young man that was walking towards him walked right through Dean and entered the gym, leaving a shocked looking Dean standing in front of the building /okay that is so not normal. Even for us/ Dean, thought to himself._

_Dean followed the strange guy into the Gym. He felt like he should know him, although he had no idea why. Following the strange guy into the Gym he saw that there were a few people in there. He had to jump out of the way of two young girls headed his way. They had almost walked right into him like he hadn't been there. Looking back at the guy he was following, he saw that he had stopped to talk to another guy. _

_Dean walked over to the two guys intending on finding out just what was going on._

"_Excuse me?"_

_The two guys in front of him continued talking as if he hadn't said anything at all._

"_Hey!" he yelled waving his hand in front of their faces to get their attention yet still he got no reaction._

_With a frustrated look on his face he went to grab both their shoulders but was shocked to discover that his hands went straight through their bodies._

"_What the hell?"_

_He watched as the young guy finished his conversation and started walking away. Dean followed him, not knowing what else to do, not knowing why he was even there in the first place. The young guy stopped at the lockers and opened one putting his bag into it and then turned around. Dean watched him closely and noticed for the first time that he couldn't quite make out the guys facial features._

_The young guy all of a sudden looked afraid and Dean turned around and saw what he hoped he would never have to see again. The reaper, the very same reaper that had come after him in Nebraska was walking toward them. The young guy moved away from the lockers and Dean saw the name that was written on the locker that the guy had been using. It said 'Hall'._

_Dean looked back quickly as the young guy that Dean was sure was Marshall Hall, started running away from the reaper and yelling for people to help him. Dean took off after them and skidded to a stop in front of the reaper._

"_Get away from him!" he yelled at the reaper not being able to do anything since everything he seemed to touch he went right through._

_The reaper, just like everyone else, seemed to ignore him and kept going after Marshall. Everyone in the Gym was looking at Marshall as though he had gone nuts. Which Dean thought if he didn't know the things he knew he might think he was nuts too. He couldn't understand why he was seeing this happen but couldn't do a damn thing to stop it._

"_Stop it! He doesn't deserve this!" he yelled to the reaper even though knowing that no-one was even hearing him._

_He watched as the reaper finally caught up to Marshall and cupped his head with his hand just like Dean remembered the reaper doing to him when Layla was being healed. Except this time Dean knew that it was himself that was being healed and this innocent man was paying the price for Dean Carelessness._

_Dean didn't want to see this but he couldn't turn his eyes away from the scene. _

"_Why won't you do anything?"_

_Dean whipped his head around and saw a tearful Rachel Carter standing behind him._

"_You can see me?" he asked surprised._

"_You're killing my brother Dean! Do something!"_

"_I can't" he told her "I don't know what to do."_

"_Let's see how you feel if it was your brother." She said coldly._

_Dean wasn't sure why but the way she said that made him turn around. He turned back to the reaper just in time to see Marshall phase out to be replaced by his very own little brother._

"_Sam!" he screamed running back over to where the reaper now had a hold of his brother._

_Sam was gasping and his eyes were starting to turn white indicating that the end was near. Dean made a futile attempt to grab his brother but fell right through him. Scuttling back he ran into a pair of strong legs. Looking up he was met by the face of his father. He felt John lift him up by the back of his collar, Rachel looking on._

"_Look what you have done now Dean. You have gotten your brother killed." John told him, roughly shaking him._

_He looked back to Sam and saw him take his last ragged breath before the reaper let his hold go and Sam crashed to the floor, deadly still._

"Nooo! Sammy!" Dean screamed as still felt someone shaking him.

"Dean calm down! You were having a nightmare." Sam said still trying to shake his brother into reality.

It had only taken another hour after Sam had noticed Dean becoming restless for a full blown nightmare took hold of his brother. Sam cursed himself for letting it progress so far. He had not meant to fall asleep. It bothered him even more that he had been yelling out his name.

"No! Get away from me!" Dean yelled still thinking the shaking was coming from his father.

"Dean it's Sam … Sammy! Come on man snap out of it." Sam said firmly but gently.

Dean seemed to stop his struggling and woke up a bit more, Sam's voice finally penetrating.

"Sammy?" he asked unsure.

"Yeah man. You were having a nightmare." Sam told him, his hands still on Dean's bare shoulders.

Dean looked as his brother and realized that he was indeed looking at his little brother. With this revelation he started to calm his breathing. He looked down and saw that he was drenched in sweat and that Sam still had his hands on his shoulders.

"Dude get off me." He complained, shrugging off Sam's hands and scooting back until his back was leaning against the head board. He wiped a hand down his face and ignored the fact that he just felt Sam sit down fully on the edge of his bed.

"You want to talk about it?" Sam asked quietly.

"There's nothing to tell Sammy it was just a nightmare." Dean answered from behind his hand.

"Dean, cut the bull okay." Sam said angrily.

"What?"

"Look you were doing okay and then you come back from getting dinner and your back in the dumps … something is up with you and I'd say the fact that you were calling my name out during your nightmare is an indication that you're not fine. Now spill." Sam told him all in one breath.

Dean remained silent. So Sam thought he might as well press his luck.

"Dean I found the newspaper in your car. I know that Marshall Hall was Rachel's brother," Sam admitted "Is that what is bothering you?"

Dean still sat in silence for a few more minutes, in which Sam actually sat patiently waiting to see if Dean was going to respond in this life time.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" Dean asked tiredly.

"Not this time bro. Just tell me what the nightmare was about. It might even make you feel better."

Dean gave a little laugh "I doubt it."

Dean sighed. At least the last time he had had a dream that bad Sam had been in the other room. _/Damn my luck/ _he thought.

"I was watching as the reaper took away Marshall Hall's Life." He finally conceded.

Sam nodded in understanding. He had thought that Marshall would come into play somehow but he was still confused. Why was Dean calling out his name?

"What did I have to do with it?"

Dean looked down at his hands. He really didn't want to get into this but one look at Sam's face and he knew he wouldn't be allowed to back out this time.

"If you really must know Rachel turned up and asked me how I would feel if it was you that had been killed and what do ya know I turn back and it's you there instead of Marshall."

"Dean you do that none of what happened was your fault?" Sam asked concerned.

"So you've told me Sam but the story is still the same every time I look at it. Marshall's life was taken because of me and Layla's chance at life was also taken because of me. Tell me Sam how would you feel if you were the one that innocent people were dying for?" Dean said angrily getting up from the bed and pushing past Sam.

"I don't know," Sam admitted "But I do know one thing."

"Oh yeah and what's that?" Dean snapped.

"You would tell me the exact same things that I have been telling you and it would be true! You wouldn't want me blaming myself and I don't want you blaming yourself either. Hell Dean if you wanna put the blame on someone blame me I'm the one who took you there in the first place."

"Don't be ridiculous. You couldn't have known."

"Now you're just being double standard."

"Besides Layla's mother was right. Why did I deserve to live more than her daughter or even Marshall?" Dean asked; anguish clearly showing on his face.

Sam walked over to where Dean was now pacing and stopped in front of his brother causing him to stop.

"She actually asked you that?" Sam asked angrily "Bitch." He muttered as an afterthought.

"Yeah but I mean she had every right to I mean if I hadn't been there Layla might be healed now."

"Dean we have already been through this, there was no way to know that Roy would have picked to heal Layla had you not been there."

Dean sat down in the chair at the table and put his head in his hands. This is exactly why he didn't want to go into this with Sam.

"Dean, think of it this way. If you weren't meant to live then nothing we did would have changed that. I know you feel guilty for the life that was lost but living the rest of your life beating yourself up over it won't change anything and doesn't do their lives justice."

"You don't understand Sam."

"Okay Dean I would like you to think about one thing."

"What?"

"Why do you think I took you to the faith healer in the first place? I took you there because the thought of losing my brother was too much. I need you man and although I'm sorry that Marshall died I'm not sorry about the outcome. I wouldn't change my actions one bit! After all this I don't want to lose you to some unfounded guilt!" Sam said all in one breathe.

Dean stood still where he was "I'll be fine."

"Some how, I'm not convinced."

"I appreciate your concern Sam I really do and I will be okay. The newspaper article just through me is all." Dean said trying to sound sincere.

Sam looked at him skeptically.

"Seriously, now if you don't mind I stink I'm gonna go take a shower." Dean said already grabbing his clothes and heading for the bathroom.

"I'm serious about all this you know." Sam said stopping him.

"Yeah I know Sammy. It'll be okay." Dean said putting a hand on Sam's shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze, feeling the need to give something back to his brother after his heart warming speech but he realized that this whole thing had quickly turned into one big chick flick moment and that's something he really didn't want to deal with.

"Tomorrow will be a new day and I'm sure I'll give me a new perspective on things."

"Are you sure your okay now?" Sam asked.

"As I'll ever be."

"Okay well you better go have that shower then because you do stink." Sam joked, but his face still showed a whole heap of concern.

"Gee thanks," Dean said slightly smiling and turned to head into the bathroom but stopped and turned around again "Hey Sammy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Any time."

Dean nodded and then walked into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

Sam continued to look at the door after Dean had closed it. He wasn't sure whether he had truly got through to Dean, but at least they had talked some of it out, which was an achievement in itself.

Dean leaned into the hot spray of the water. All that talking had tired him out. He had made sure when speaking about his dream to leave his Dad's appearance out of the conversation because he wasn't even sure himself what that meant. He still felt the guilt that he felt before but it wasn't as deep as before. He would never admit it to Sam and it didn't mean he liked it anymore than he did before but he guessed that sometimes talking out your problems did help … sometimes. He knew one thing for sure. He'd be damned if he was going to sleep anytime soon.

TBC...

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Hope everyone liked this chapter, please **review** if you get the chance and i'll catcha soon :-) 


	9. Getting Prepared

**Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to post this new chapter, just finished moving. :-) Hope everyone likes it.**

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**Chapter 9. Getting Prepared**

Dean stepped out of the bathroom feeling a lot more refreshed, the dream and his conversation with Sam still very much on his mind.

Once dressed Dean gathered up the clothes he had changed out of and grabbed a hold of the door handle. He took a deep breath and then opened the door prepared to face another day.

Upon entering the room Dean saw that Sam was sitting up in his bed reading emails on his phone. That phone had too many functions and too many buttons if you asked Dean but Sam seemed to love it.

Sam looked up from his phone and watched as his brother plunked down on his own bed, running a hand through his still damp hair. Sam would be lying if he said he still wasn't concerned for his brother. He didn't particularly want to go up against a possible Manticore if Dean wasn't feeling up to it either. He would have to judge that for himself because Dean would kill himself before he would admit that he was anything but fine.

In fact Sam was counting himself lucky that he had gotten Dean to open up as much as he had. He thought he was right before when he had called Dean double standard. He had always been like that; it was okay for Sam to express his feelings or show weakness but not Dean Winchester. Dean was brought up to believe that protecting his little brother was his most important responsibility. So it had been, through their whole childhood. To the point that Dean did a lot of the raising of Sam himself, since their father was away too often on one supernatural hunt or another. A lot of the time Sam thought that generally Dean was way too hard on himself and for that Sam blamed mostly on their father for putting too much responsibility on too young shoulders.

Looking at Dean now he looked a little better, having had the time to refresh himself. Unfortunately though, Sam realized by looking at Dean's face, it had also given him time to put the walls he had carefully constructed back up. There would be no more chick flick moments this morning or that day for that matter.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked thinking it couldn't hurt to ask anyway.

"I'm fine Sam." Dean answered in the exact way Sam had thought he would.

Dean moved to sit back against the head board on the still unmade bed "So what are we gonna do about this Manticore thing?" he asked, directing the conversation somewhere else.

"Well," Sam began; getting up off the bed and walking over to the table with all the information he had printed out, "It says here that Manticore's usually live in underground sewers, caverns, crypts or ruins."

Sam walked over to his brother's bed with the papers in his hands and sat down on the edge of the bed, handing Dean some of the handouts.

"Manticore's mate for life and usually live in a pride of up to five Manticore's. There are rarely two males in one pride."

"One male with all those females," Dean commented "lucky guy."

Sam rolled his eyes but otherwise chose to ignore the fact that his brothers mind was more often than not in the gutter.

"Now they rest in shifts of eight to ten hours however there is always one awake, sort of like on watch or something." Sam continued.

"What about the victims?"

"Well they are usually eaten where they are killed unless there are cubs in a pride. If that's the case then the kill is brought back to their camp."

"Nice."

"Yeah," Sam agreed "Now the fact that, so far people have been going missing every two weeks also makes me believe that we might be dealing with a Manticore."

"That's how often they feed." Dean theorized.

"Exactly,"

Dean nodded and flipped through the rest of his brother's research.

"Did you find anything that might help us in fighting and killing the damn thing?" Dean finally asked?

Sam closed his eyes and shook his head in the negative.

"Well that sucks."

"I did find out that its skin apparently repels all known charms, it has wings and it can't really fly but it can leap and glide down on its prey for the kill."

"Well that sucks even more. How the hell are we supposed to kill it?" Dean asked not liking the sound of this.

"Well I searched and searched and searched some more but all I could find was that in some ancient tribes apparently people used to hunt the cubs and smash their heads in with rocks before they could grow old enough to be a real threat."

"So your saying that it can be killed any normal way but it just might be a bit hard if we're dealing with an adult?" Dean asked, hope coming back.

"I honestly don't know, maybe, hopefully. There was really nothing I could find on how to kill it."

"Maybe Dad might know." Dean suggested.

"Yeah well even if he did. It's not like that's an option anyway. The man never picks up his phone or answers his voicemail." Sam said bitterly.

Dean just nodded, having no real come back because it was the truth. If it wasn't for the occasional text message of co-ordinates then they wouldn't even know if the man was alive.

Dean pulled his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, bumping Sam purposely on his way.

"What do you wanna do?" Sam asked as he tried to keep his balance on the edge of the bed.

"Well I say that we head up to the area where these people have gone missing and check it out for ourselves." Dean told him and walked over to the coffee maker and poured himself and Sam a cup each.

"Sounds good to me, but what if we do happen to run into the Manticore?"

"Well I'm thinking we pack enough arsenal with us to fight a small war. If a cub can be taken down by a beating to the head then maybe with enough firepower we can take down the Mummy and Daddy." Dean said, saying the last part with his usual sarcastic spirit.

"Maybe,"

Sam got up from his seat on the bed, grabbed the offered coffee out of Dean's hand and grabbing a change of clothes along the way, headed for the bathroom, "I'll go get ready."

Dean nodded and watched as his brother went into the bathroom. As soon as the bathroom door closed a smirk appeared on his face. He was rewarded a few minutes later when he heard the shower start, followed by a yelp coming from the bathrooms occupant.

Dean chuckled to himself as he heard his name being cursed behind the closed door. He hadn't truly meant to use all the hot water but when he really thought about it, it was Sam's fault anyway for making him talk about his dream. /_Don't know if Sam would agree with that logic/ _Dean thought as a he smiled into his coffee.

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Almost an hour and a half later the boys were coming up on the Ranger Station once again.

Before they had left on their drive Sam had made Dean stop and buy the newspaper. He wanted to read the paper to see if the authorities had made anymore leads but also so he wouldn't have to speak to his brother. He couldn't help but notice the smirk on Dean's face when he had emerged from the bathroom shivering.

Sam hated having cold showers. It was always a rule in their little family that their Dad got the shower first, then Dean and then Sam. It used to infuriate Sam as teenager when Dean would purposely leave him no hot water. It was no different now, years later, especially when he saw that Dean got such a kick out of pulling pranks on him. In fact their pranks always ended up being mini wars that eventually their father would have to step in. Sam could still remember the time when Dean had put Nair in his shampoo. He had to go school bald for what seemed like forever. He had nearly killed him for that one.

Sam looked over at his brother and saw that he looked so bored. Now that they were on that winding road Dean was once again forced to slow his driving down.

Looking back down at the paper he noticed something that caught his eye.

"Hey listen to this."

"Oh you're finally talking to me. You know it was just a little bit of cold water Sammy …"

"Just shut up and listen." Sam interrupted, no anger in his voice.

"Okay." Dean said quietly, eyes going back to the road.

"Due to the recent amount of missing people, Pikes Peak National Forest is closed to tourists and all camping excursions are canceled until the matter is under control …" Sam read from the article.

"Well that's good. I mean, no-one else is going to go missing," Dean said "This gives us time to sort this out."

"I don't think we should go as far as the Ranger Station. I have a map. It shouldn't be too hard to find the area by ourselves."

"I'm one step ahead of you Sammy." Dean told him smugly as he turned into a narrow forest road.

"I saw this on the way up here yesterday," he said pulling the car off to the side, shutting off the engine and snatching Sam's map out of his hands.

"We should be able to get there from here and the car will be hidden and most importantly safe. We will just have to walk a bit further."

"Yes heaven forbid your precious car not be safe." Sam said exiting the car.

"Just admit it Sammy if something ever happened my baby you would be upset to." Dean told him following suit.

"First of all, for the last time it is Sam not _Sammy _and it's a car, I think I would live."

"They say you don't know what you miss until it's gone. But you're lucky, you won't ever have to worry about that because nothing bad is ever going to happened to this baby while I'm around." Dean responded walking around to the back of the Impala and opened the trunk, taking out a bag he had packed before they had left the motel.

Sam shook his head. His brother really was nuts. If he was honest with himself he couldn't picture his life with out the Impala in it somewhere. It was an extension of Dean in a way and he would be a little tiny bit sad should something happen to the old Chevy. Not that he would ever admit that to his brother.

"What did you pack?"

"Shotguns with real ammo, a couple of Beretta's real ammo again, a couple of machete's incase we need to chop the fugly bastards head off, amongst other things." He listed off as he handed Sam the bag.

"What's in the second bag?" Sam asked hefting the back of weaponry onto his shoulders.

"Just some basic provisions, you know, like bottles of water, rope, peanut M&M's."

Sam looked at him like he had really gone mad now, "Peanut M&M's are provisions now?"

"Yeah Dude. They helped you find my trail when that nasty Wendigo captured me didn't they? Those things can be life savers." Dean smirked.

"Strangely true." Sam laughed, remembering now when he had traveled with Dean to Blackwater Ridge, Colorado in search of their elusive father only to encounter a Wendigo. When Dean and that girl Hailey had been captured by the Wendigo Dean had left a trail using his M&M's for Sam and Hailey's brother Ben to find them.

"Only this time I'm not planning on leaving them all over the forest floor." Dean said interrupting Sam's trip down memory lane.

"It's okay Dean if you do get caught by the Manticore it won't keep you alive like the Wendigo did. They eat their prey straight away." Sam told him as Dean shut the trunk and then locked the Impala.

"Well that's not a comforting thought."

"It wasn't meant to be." Sam laughed as he followed Dean up the short forest side road.

TBC ...

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**Thanks for reading and please Review :-) till next time :-)**


	10. The Hunt Begins

**Authors Note:** Thanks to everyone to sent a review ... i love reading them :-)

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**Chapter 10. The Hunt Begins**

"Dude, are we even close?" Dean asked as he trudged along beside his brother.

Sam rolled his eyes at Dean's complaining. It was, after all Dean's idea to park further away so that the Impala would be hidden.

"It's only been roughly forty five minutes and yes judging by this map I think we are getting close."

"I think we're here." He heard Dean say and looked up to see that they were standing at the edge of a small clearing.

The clearing was surrounded by thick forest and looked like it was frequented by campers and the like.

"Okay. I guess lets take a look at the area." Sam suggested, walking further into the clearing.

Dean nodded and followed his brother in. Dean looked around him and couldn't help but notice how very green it was up in this area of Pikes Peak. He stood still just taking in the scenery when he felt something move just above his ankle and gave a startled yelp when he felt that same something, bite him. He looked down and saw that he had been standing on an ant hill and jumped off it quickly.

Sam turned around, hearing his brothers yelp of pain to see him hoping on one foot trying to brush something off his lower leg.

"Dean what are you doing?"

"Damn ant's. What? There's not enough food around for them so they have to bite me?" He grumbled, standing up straight having brushed off the last of the small ants.

Sam looked down and saw that Dean had been standing on top of an ant hill, "Well you were standing on their home man." He snickered and then walked away to continue his search.

Dean poked his tongue out in Sam's direction in a childish gesture and stomped off in the other direction. This was why he hated camping. They dealt with enough creepy things in their line of work he didn't need creepy crawlies on top of that.

He walked over to the other side of the clearing to where the edge of trees started. The clearing ended with a drop about the height of a 3 story building and then began a climb again. Looking up he saw that the climb made up another small mountain. The drop was just like a humongous ditch with lots of trees, bushes, twigs and other plant life that would make a fall very uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

"Hey Dean, come here." He heard Sam call, so he stopped gazing at the ditch and went over to where his brother was standing near what looked to be an extinguished campfire.

"What?"

"I think we can safely say that we are dealing with a Manticore now." Sam told him holding up something in his hand for Dean to see.

"Is this one of its stings?" he asked grabbing the sting out of Sam's hand and taking a closer look and the long white sting, which was about a foot in length.

"I think so … I know one thing though. That didn't come from a bear."

Dean nodded and pursed his lips and was about to ask Sam if he had found anything else when a sound off to where he found the ditch caught his attention. The brothers exchanged a glance with each other, letting the other know that they had both heard the same thing.

Dean held up a finger to his lips to motion for Sam to remain silent and walked over to where the disturbance had come from. He saw something move slightly in the tree line. Whatever it was, it was too small to be a bear or the Manticore for that matter. Unless the Manticore had cubs, then they would have a whole new situation.

He pulled his berretta out of the waistband of his jeans where he had stashed it during their walk and turned around to see Sam doing the same thing.

Dean moved closer to the tree line and cocked his gun. As soon as the sound of the gun being cocked sounded in the air he heard a human sounding gasp coming from the tree line.

"Hey!" he shouted "Come out here."

"Don't Shoot. It's just me!" a familiar female voice rang out, moments before a person emerged from behind a tree.

Rachel Carter warily made her way out of the forest to stand before Dean and now Sam who had come to stand beside his brother.

"Um … can you point that somewhere else please?" Rachel asked a little unnerved that Dean had yet to put his gun down.

Dean came out of his shocked state and lowered his weapon, putting the safety back on and putting it back in his jeans.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked angrily.

"I'm looking for my husband. What do you think?" She shot back.

"You shouldn't be out here!" he answered back forcefully, "And what the hell were you doing hiding like that? You do realize we could have shot you?"

"For one I have every right to be here. The authorities have done jack about these missing people and I can't sit around doing nothing."

"No actually you don't have the right to be here! You could get yourself killed, which is why the rangers haven't allowed you up here by yourself. It's too dangerous." Dean argued his voice rising.

Sam could see that his brother was getting angrier by the minute and he realized that it was more because he was worried that she might be hurt. He didn't need someone else's life preying on his conscience.

"Where …"

"That's exactly why I was hiding! I finally managed to get up here and when I saw you guys coming I thought you were the rangers so I hid. What the hell is a Manticore?" Rachel interrupted Sam's question.

"Of all the irresponsible …" Dean began another tirade.

"Irresponsible?" Rachel asked astounded, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah irresponsible!" Dean stated, "Where's Katie?"

"Not that it's any of your business but a friend I had called turned up last night and she's staying with her at the motel."

Sam watched his brother and Rachel argue back and forth totally absorbed in their argument. This was not the time and the place for this.

He turned around to look behind him when he thought he heard something and saw something that made their day decidedly worse. There, about twenty feet away from where they were standing, stood a single Manticore.

"Dean!" Sam called not to loud, no wanting to send the Manticore into action, but was ignored

"Tell me Detective what would you do if it was someone you loved out here?" Rachel yelled at Dean.

"That's not that point it's too dangerous for you to be out here. We're taking you back NOW!" he said grabbing her arm.

Sam looked back frantically at the Manticore which smile just said 'Dinner'!

The Manticore looked even more intimidating than the pictures he had seen when researching it on the net. It stood at nearly twice the size of Sam and its red lion's body looked strong and powerful. It had a wavy red mane at the base of its long neck and upon the neck sat the head that did indeed looked human.

In Sam's opinion it just looked wrong. Be that as it may it still looked scary as hell and the internet sites weren't lying when they said its mouth stretched from ear to ear. Not only that but, Sam couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it had three layers of teeth. None of this boded well for them.

Sam watched as the Manticore arched up on its rear legs and pulled it long and powerful tail around to the front of its body, ready to attack. Sam acted on instinct knowing that they were out of time.

"Dean move now!"

"Sam …" Dean turned around in time to see the Manticore standing in the distance before he was cut off as Sam crashed into him, sending him crashing into Rachel.

Dean heard something that sounded like darts flying through the air just before he felt himself crash into Rachel and he knew that things had taken a turn for the worse.

He had never gotten the chance to tell Sam about the humongous ditch that he had found and all three of them had been standing too close to it when Sam tackled him out of the blue.

Dean felt himself lose contact with both Sam and Rachel and fall over the cliff edge. He couldn't help but cry out on the way down as he crashed into branches, rocks and other plant life on his way down. He could hear the same from Rachel somewhere close but he hadn't heard anything from Sam since he took them over the edge.

It wasn't long before he crashed into something hard stopping his momentum. He never felt the body collide into him.

TBC ...

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Hope everyone liked this chapter and please **Review :-)**


	11. Waking Up

**Authors Note: **Thanks again to everyone that has reviewed ... I love hearing from you all

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**Chapter 11. Waking up**

"Dean!"

He heard someone calling his name but right now the last thing he wanted to do was open his eyes or move for that matter. He hurt in places he didn't even know he had and he knew that something bad must have happened but he was just on the verge of consciousness and wasn't ready to find out what.

"Dean, come on wake up!"

There was that nagging voice again this time accompanied by someone shaking him. He couldn't help but let out a groan of pain when the shaking caused all his injuries to make them selves known.

"Dean, come on. You really need to wake up now!" said the annoying nagging person who had now resorted to slapping his cheek.

Thinking that waking up was inevitable Dean allowed his eyes to flutter open only to shut them tightly again when the bright morning sun or was it afternoon, shot pain straight through his head.

"Oh thank God! I thought you were dead!" an obviously female voice spoke.

_/Rachel/ _Dean thought and opened his eyes to a squint, to see a terrified looking Rachel, with her hair everywhere, hovering over him. He had yet to actually move yet and he wasn't looking forward to it. _/what the hell happened this time/ _he wondered to himself as he slowly brought his right hand to his head. He felt something wet running down his face and he brought his hand back down to see that it had come away with blood.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked a still confused Dean.

She looked at him anxiously waiting for him to answer. He had yet to say a word and he looked like hell with blood running down the side of his head and into his hair from a nasty cut to the head. God only knew what other injuries he had sustained on the way down.

"Dean?" She urged when he still said nothing, then all of a sudden his eyes widened like everything had come back to him.

"Sam! Where's Sam?" he croaked out trying to sit up, eliciting a cry of pain as soon as he put pressure on his left wrist.

"I don't know! When I woke up only you were here."

He held the offending limb to his chest but still tried to sit up. His mind totally focused on what had happened to his brother. Gritting his teeth he managed to get into a sitting position but was breathing a lot more heavily for his effort. Rachel kept a steadying hand on Dean's shoulder as he rode through the pain. Once he had calmed down a bit Rachel started to help him lean back against the thick tree trunk that he had crashed into, only for him to cry out in pain once again.

"What? What's the matter?" she cried not knowing what do to.

"Back." Dean panted out.

Rachel reached her hand around to Dean's back to feel what was wrong and felt that his jacket was wet. She pulled her hand away and gasped when she saw it was covered in Dean's blood.

"Oh My God!" she said starting to panic.

"It's okay. It's okay." Dean tried to assure her even though he was quite concerned himself.

"No it's not okay." She told him wiping her hands on her jeans.

"We need to look for Sam." Dean stated through short breaths, now that he had stopped moving the pain had backed off a bit.

Rachel had no idea what she was supposed to do but she did know that before anything else, she had to do something about Dean's injuries or they weren't going anywhere. She pulled a hair tie from around her wrist and pulled her long brown hair into a pony tail and pulled off her vest she had been wearing.

Dean watched as Rachel seemed to be preparing for something and he really hoped she was going to go look for his little brother because he thought if he tried he might do more harm than good. His eyesight was swimming because of his head injury, his left wrist was throbbing and most likely broken and god only knows what was wrong with his back.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I have to check out your injuries before we do anything or you'll probably go into shock or die or something." Rachel informed him.

"Go into shock or die or something. That sounded confident." He said finding it more and more difficult to keep sitting upright.

"I took a nurses course." She supplied quickly.

"Oh good," he sighed "You know what your doing then."

"I never said I passed it."

"Perfect."

"Well I'm all you have right now."

"Find Sam. He'll know what to do." He told her. _/where the hell was Sam/ _he wondered to himself. He was really beginning to worry.

"You're bleeding Dean we need to see to this now. I'm gonna take a look now."

Dean just nodded knowing that she was right. He tensed up when he felt her reach around and feel his back.

It didn't take long before his defenses were brought crashing down as Rachel touched a sensitive spot.

"Ahh …" he cried, panting again.

"I'm sorry." Rachel said quickly coming back around to face Dean, her brown eyes boring into him.

"Dean listen you me!" she commanded grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her, "You have a piece of wood stuck in your back. I don't think it's too deep so I'm gonna try pulling it out okay."

Dean nodded again trying to keep his emotions in check. He watched as she started to take off her plaid over shirt so that she was only wearing a plain grey t-shirt.

"I don't think I'm up for that." He joked to try and ease the situation.

"I'm a married woman, Detective." She replied, giving him a look that said she knew he was joking.

"My bag." He said all of a sudden changing the subject.

"What?"

"My bag it has a first aid kit in it."

Rachel took a look at their surroundings but didn't see anything, "I haven't seen it but if it followed us down it probably didn't get as far as us, being lighter in weight. It's probably way up there." She said pointing up the way they had fallen.

"Damn." Was all Dean said.

She started ripping her shirt into strips and when that was done she rolled up her vest and then looked back at Dean who looked like he was going to topple over at any moment.

"You ready?" she asked nervously.

"As I'll ever be,"

"Okay then."

Rachel got back behind Dean and got into position, "Okay Dean I'm gonna count to three and then I'm gonna pull it out. Are you ready?"

Dean nodded again and braced himself for what he knew was coming.

"One … two …," Rachel counted hesitating before continuing "three."

On three she grabbed hold of the small piece of wood protruding from Dean's back and yanked it out, eliciting a loud groan from the injured man.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean cursed through gritted teeth, breathing hard

"It's okay." Rachel tried to sooth.

"That's easy for you to say."

Rachel ignored him as she pushed her wadded up vest against the small hole in Dean's back trying to stench the flow of blood. Once the vest was in place she grabbed one of the longer strips from her shirt and started tying it around his body to keep the vest in place.

"Okay that's all I can do for now. Let's take a look at that wrist shall we?" she asked helping him sit back against the tree, which put pressure on the make shift bandage.

"No we need to find Sam." Dean argued, even more worried that through that whole time his brother still hadn't turned up. Something must be wrong.

"It will only take a couple of minutes." Rachel counted reaching out for his wrist.

"God, you can't give a guy a break can you?" Dean joked, wincing when she grabbed hold of the offending limb.

Rachel wasn't sure but it looked to her as if his wrist was broken the only thing she could think of doing was splinting it. She looked around for some pieces of wood or bark that would do the job and then used some of her destroyed shirt to tie it off.

Once she was finished she looked up and saw that Dean had his eyes closed and looked to be concentrating on breathing.

"Dean?"

"Can we please find Sam now?" Dean asked, feeling just a little desperate. He tried giving her the puppy dog look that Sam had perfected when he was still a little kid.

Rachel sighed. Dean looked like he would be okay for now so she thought that it couldn't hurt to look for the guy since he very well could be hurt as well.

"Okay," Rachel began but held up her hands when Dean started to move, "But you're staying right here. I'll go look."

"But …"

"No buts. I'll be back in a minute." She told him ending his protest.

"Wait," Dean called, causing her to turn around, "Are you okay?" he finally remembered to ask.

"Sure. I got some nasty bruises but I'm mostly fine. I had something soft to land on." She answered with a smirk and headed off to her right in search of the lost hunter.

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Sam awoke feeling sore and bruised all over. _/what the hell happened/ _he thought to himself and then it all hit him _/oh my God Dean and Rachel/ _he thought loudly. Suddenly he panicked, thinking about his brother he tried to open his eyes but found that he couldn't lift his eyelids. In fact he couldn't seem to move anything. He started to panic. _/what the hell is wrong with me/ _he asked himself.

_/The Manticore/ _he thought _/its stings have a paralytic in them and I must have been stung. Damn it./ _

It felt like he was laying on grass and twigs but other than that he couldn't really feel anything and it was really becoming annoying. He also had no idea how long this paralytic was going to last. He was a sitting duck.

He subconsciously tensed up when he heard twigs breaking and the sound of someone coming in his direction. It was hard to distinguish because of his situation but he was proven right when, that somebody, leant down and shook him as if trying to wake him. He felt the person touching his body before eventually picking Sam up and putting him in what Sam thought felt like a firemen's carry.

Sam's first thought was relief when for a second he assumed it was his brother who had finally found him. He canceled those thoughts straight away though because Dean would have spoken to him, assured him that everything was going to be alright. The person who was currently carrying him through the forest hadn't uttered a word and Sam could only wonder what trouble he had gotten himself into now and if his brother and Rachel were okay.

TBC ...

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Thanks for reading and i hope everyone lked that chapter ... the boys are in real trouble now lol Please **review :-)**


	12. Truth

**Authors Note: **Thanks to everyone still reviewing it's great!

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**Chapter 12. Truth**

Rachel had searched as far out as she dared but couldn't seem to find any sign of Sam. Since he had been near them when they had gone over she figured he should be in the immediate area but oddly enough he wasn't.

Although Dean had seemed to be okay when she left, she still didn't want to leave him too long by himself. Not only because of his injuries but whatever that thing was that had attacked them, it was still out there and could probably attack them at any time.

"Sam!" she called out, for what felt like the millionth time.

Like all the other times she had called out to him she was answered with silence, well other than the occasional sounds of the wildlife.

"Damn it." She cursed out loud.

Deciding that it was time to make her way back to Dean she turned back the way she had come.

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Sam awoke with a start and realized that he must have fallen asleep. He hadn't meant to but when you are sprawled out on a bed without being able to move it was pretty easy to fall asleep.

He remembered that the mystery person who had found him in the forest had carried him, for what seemed like forever, until he heard what sounded like a door opening. The person then proceeded to dump his burden on, what Sam assumed was, a bed. Well it had felt like a bed anyway.

Sam was confused. He was sick of guessing and assuming who this person was and what he or she was doing. Again he had to assume that the person was male because they had been strong enough to carry him through the forest for a decent amount of time and Sam was no light weight. He might look thin but he had a lot of muscle due to his fathers training all his life.

Whoever had taken him had not uttered a word since he had taken Sam. In fact the only sounds that had come from him were the occasional grunt as he tried to handle Sam's dead weight.

Now that he was awake once again he tried to move again. He was a little surprised when he was able to move his arm a bit. The Manticore's paralyzing agent must have been wearing off.

He next attempted to open his eyes. It took him at least five minutes but all his hard effort was paid off when he managed to flutter his eyelids open for a second. He hadn't managed to keep them open but it was a start he conceded to himself. It was better than nothing and it meant that in a short time he would be able to move a lot more freely. Then he could find out the identity of his mystery kidnapper and find out what had happened to Dean and Rachel.

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Rachel finally made it back to where she remembered leaving Dean. It was a great relief when she saw Dean sitting up against the tree exactly where she had left him.

She had managed to get herself a tiny bit lost but was proud that in the end she had found her way back. She wasn't into the wilderness like her husband and she was amazed that she had found her way back at all. The thought that she might not be able to find her way back hadn't even entered her mind as she had left Dean to go and find Sam.

Getting closer she saw that Dean had his eyes closed and appeared to be asleep. She quietly walked closer and saw that he was shivering a little and she hoped that he was just chill and wasn't going into shock because she had no idea what to do if it was the latter.

Rachel squatted down in front of the sleeping young man, "Dean." she called and nudged his shoulder a little, to get his attention.

Dean frowned but didn't wake up so she nudged him again.

"I'm up." He said coming awake.

"Sure you are." Rachel replied sarcastically.

Dean looked behind Rachel obviously looking for something or someone.

"I didn't find him." she told him.

"You haven't been gone very long, you couldn't have looked very far." Dean complained, stifling a moan as he shifted his position a little.

"Dean I have been gone for the last hour."

"An hour?"

"Yeah you must have fallen asleep. I couldn't any sign of Sam I'm sorry." She apologized looking down at her hands.

Dean closed his eyes trying to think straight, "No he has to be here somewhere."

"I'm telling you I have searched the area, he isn't here." She told him putting a hand on his shoulder to keep him sitting.

"Well where the hell is he then?" he snapped.

"Don't snap at me okay. I'm just telling you what I know."

Dean sighed, "Look I'm sorry, I'm just worried about him."

Rachel nodded and looked at him sympathetically. She knew what it was like to lose someone you cared about and Dean obviously cared a lot about Sam. Hopefully he hadn't lost his friend permanently.

"Maybe he just didn't fall as far down." She said hopefully.

"He would have found us by now if he were able to." Dean told her sounding defeated.

"Maybe he's dealing with that … thing first."

Dean eyes widened. With his worries over Sam and his own injuries he had momentarily forgotten that they were still in danger from the Manticore. He read on one of Sam's computer print outs that the Manticore was an extremely skilled hunter and had a keen sense of smell. It can smell the blood of its prey from a distance and at the moment he was currently bleeding enough for the Manticore to sense a mile away. Then another thought occurred to him _/what if the Manticore got Sam/ _He realized that he had no way of knowing whether Sam was dead or alive and that realization alone almost tore at his insides.

"We need to get out of here." Rachel said, bringing Dean out of his haze.

"Can you move?" she asked.

"Yeah … I think." He replied gritting his teeth as he leaned forward.

Rachel made quick work at checking his back and sighed with relief when she found that his back had stopped bleeding for now. She took Dean's good hand and helped lift him to his feet.

He swayed dangerously at this new altitude and leant heavily on Rachel almost taking her back down to the ground.

Rachel grabbed for him as soon as he started making a descent and miraculously kept them both standing.

"Okay we can do this." She encouraged out loud.

"Of course we can," Dean assured through his heavy breathing that had returned, "Just give me a minute."

He held onto Rachel while he closed his eyes trying to get his equilibrium back. After a few minutes he cautiously opened his eyes and found that the dizziness was almost gone.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked looking worriedly at his pale features.

"I'm fine. Come on, the sooner we do this the better."

"Okay," Rachel agreed nodding, putting Dean's arm across her shoulders to give him extra support, "So what was that thing anyway?"

Dean realized she was attempting to keep their minds off the hard task ahead of them so he tried to recall all Sam had told him about the Manticore and hoped that the creature didn't find them during their attempt to make it back to the top.

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Sam was impressed with the steady progress he had made in getting his mobility back. He was still very sluggish but he could move his arms if he tried really hard and he had managed to open his eyes and more importantly keep them open.

Once he got his vision back he had taken a good look at his surroundings to try and figure out where he had been taken.

It looked like he was in a bedroom of some type. Its wall's were made up of rough wooden paneling and it had one curtained window and one door across from the bed he was currently lying on. The bed, a chair and a chest of drawers were the only things that occupied the room.

Sam's study of the room was interrupted by footsteps and then the door swinging open causing Sam to nearly jump in surprise.

Sam looked towards the door and was shocked to see a fairly human looking male standing in the doorway.

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Dean and Rachel had been slowly climbing up the steep slope using trees and other plant life as leverage for the last hour. They were moving slower than Dean would have liked due to the fact that he had lost his footing a few times and sent them falling down losing the little bit of height they had gained.

Dean was frustrated, tired, aching all over and finding it harder and harder to breath. He had stopped Rachel's attempt at conversation as soon as he had finished telling her what she needed to know about the Manticore, preferring to use all his strength in putting on foot in front of the other and breathing.

His foot slipped again and he lost hold of the bush he had a hold of and crashed back down into Rachel who thankfully had been anticipating it and managed to keep them both upright without losing any leverage.

"Son of a Bitch!" Dean cursed, panting.

"I think we need to stop, we need to rest." Rachel suggested, being careful not to say that Dean needed to rest, for she had already learnt that he would just deny it.

"We can't. I don't know why the Manticore hasn't come after us yet but we'd be sitting ducks if we stopped." He said, closing his eyes and grabbing hold of the bush again for dear life.

"Yeah well you're going to kill yourself at this rate, so we are stopping." Rachel stated forcefully, looking around for a safe piece of ground for them to so sit down and rest.

Spotting a place off to her right she grabbed a hold of Dean's arm and carefully lead him to it without slipping. Sitting him down she realized he had lost the entire colour in his face besides two red spots on his cheeks.

She placed the back of her hand on his forehead, "How are you doing Dean?"

"I'm fine." He lied swatting at her hand.

"You seem to be a little hot," she observed, looking worried, "let me check your back."

"Ughh … do you have to?" he complained.

"Stop being such a baby."

"Oh I'm no … baby … I just think … it's unfair that you get to feel me up and I can't return the favor." He said smirking in her direction, then grunted as he was helped forward.

"You're hopeless you know that?" She replied, taking a peak at the wound on his back and saw that he had started bleeding again.

"You're bleeding again." She told him coming to face him.

Dean sighed "I know."

"There's nothing we can do about it till we get back to the top."

"I know that too, which is why the faster we get this done the sooner we can find Sam and get me fixed up."

"We go any faster without any water and you'll kill yourself, so just relax for a minute will you."

"I know I'm just worried about Sammy."

"You and him are close aren't you?" she asked.

"Sure I mean he is my partner." Dean lied, laying back down carefully trying not to disturb his injured back too much, while getting his breathing back into control.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sensing it's more than that."

Dean just looked at her and said nothing.

"Come on Dean give me a break here," she said exasperatedly "My husband is missing, we were just attacked by some big weird creature, which you seem to know all about and now I'm hauling your arse up the mountain side while all you can do is complain about getting to Sam. I deserve to know the truth."

Dean sighed again "Okay." He said quietly.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay I guess you do deserve to know the truth."

Rachel sat there and gave Dean a look that said 'go on'

"First of all Sam and I aren't cops."

"I didn't think you looked like a cop."

"Why not?" Dean asked not knowing whether to be insulted or not.

"Dunno you just didn't seem the type, anyway go on."

Dean gave her a funny look then continued, "Sam is my younger brother and we hunt things like our friend the Manticore, and other supernatural beings."

Rachel looked at him as if he had gone nuts, "Dean I asked for the truth."

"And I told you the truth, I promise you. I know it sounds nuts but it's the truth. That's how I know so much about the Manticore and that is the reason we came to Pikes Peak in the first place."

"You hunt ghosts and weird looking creatures for a living?"

"Well not exactly. We don't get paid for it," he told her, then added "well not usually."

"Wow."

"Wow? What does that mean?"

Rachel looked at Dean as if trying to work out whether she believed him or not. She looked in his eyes and saw a sincerity that you didn't see in everyone.

"I must be nuts but I believe you."

"Oh, well good … can we go now?" Dean asked getting anxious. He wanted to find Sam as soon as possible and he was still wary as to why they hadn't seen the Manticore yet.

"Sure." Rachel replied standing up, grabbing hold of a tree to keep her balance on the sloped ground.

She held out a hand to Dean which he took with his right hand and let her pull him to his feet. Again he couldn't help the groan that past his lips as all his injuries fired up at the sudden movement.

Rachel made sure he got his footing right before they made their way back up the slope and she hoped that they made it on time, because Dean's strength seemed to be wearing fast now.

TBC ...

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Dont worry Sam will get his answers in the next chapter lol **Please Reveiw :-)**


	13. Simon

**Authors Note: **Thanks to everyone who sent in a review :-)

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**Chapter 13. Simon**

"So you're awake." The man said coming into the room causing Sam to tense up even more.

Sam looked in a little bit of surprise at the room's new occupant. He was at least 6 feet tall, blonde hair, a small goatee and completely normal and even harmless looking. Not what Sam had been expecting at all.

"I suppose you're wondering where you are, huh?" the man asked grabbing the chair and bringing it over to the side of Sam's bed.

He sat the chair facing the opposite way and sat on it backwards using the back of it to rest his arms on, "Don't worry the paralysis should completely wear off soon.

Sam tried to say something but couldn't get his mouth and vocal cords to cooperate with his brain so instead just stared at the man sitting in front of him.

"To answer the obvious question on your mind, you are in my cabin a little while away from that campsite you and your friends were investigating." He explained looking at Sam's slack features but taking notice of his bright eyes that, were asking a lot of questions.

"To answer another question I'm sure you're dying to ask, my name is Simon Arnott and I found you a little ways down that drop after you were attacked and I brought you here to recover." He said smiling, obviously proud of himself.

The question Sam really wanted to ask now was whether the guy new anything about his brother and Rachel. But for some reason he didn't get the feeling that Simon had even looked for them.

"I guess it would be better if we talked when … well when you can actually talk back so I'm gonna go," Simon told him standing him up and patting Sam's shoulder.

"Come out when you are ready." Simon told him sweetly and then walked out the door closing it behind him as he left.

_/Great/ _Sam thought as he lay motionless on the bed _/why do I get the feeling that this situation is just going to get worse/ _

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Dean was once again battling with his lungs as he tried to climb further up the incline. It was getting harder and harder to see with sweat rolling down into his eyes and he could feel his body trembling. The constant movement and pulling himself higher was taking toll on his body and his broken wrist had gone from hurting occasionally to a constant throb. His back was killing him due to the hole that the piece of wood had put into it and it wouldn't be too much longer before the blood loss caught up to him and he passed out. He only hoped that if and when he did pass out that he didn't fall on Rachel because that would seriously hamper all her hard work.

He had to admit for someone that had admittedly not done much outdoor or wilderness stuff before and panicked at the first sight of Dean's injuries, she was handling the situation really well. Not to mention that she had the difficult task of helping an injured and worried Dean Winchester up a big hill. That was not an easy task and she hadn't really complained once, just offered words of encouragement and kept a steadying hand high on his back for support. Once she had gotten over her initial panic she had coped better than he could have hoped for.

They were about three quarters of the way up and Dean looked up and groaned. It looked like they were going to be doing this for the rest of their lives, which Dean momentarily thought wouldn't be a problem for him soon enough if shock and infection really set in.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked concern evident in her voice, at hearing him groan.

"Just …peachy."

"Yeah I can tell. Come on let's stop for a while and take a breather."

"No …" he panted "I think we … should go on … it's already … late afternoon."

"We need to rest."

"I'm fine."

"Fine then but I need the rest." Rachel implored hoping this change of tactic would get through to the stubborn man.

Dean looked back at her and softened. She looked like hell and he couldn't deny her a little bit of rest. She had done so well so far. He was just afraid that if he sat down he wouldn't be able to get up again.

"Okay if … you need the … rest." He conceded and let her gently ease him down on a solid piece of earth.

Rachel sat down beside him but kept an arm on his shoulder just incase. It was quite steep where they were sitting and it wouldn't take much of a slip to send them down the mountain again.

Rachel was getting more worried by the minute. She could see by the look on Dean's face that he was in pain and although he was sweating and was hot to the touch he was trembling and it as only getting worse.

What she really wished they had was some water. They hadn't had anything to drink since going over the side and she realized that they were both badly dehydrated. She was okay for the moment but Dean in his already bad condition couldn't take much more of this.

The thing was, Rachel was scared, scared that the Manticore thing would come back any minute. Scared that they wouldn't reach the top and scared that Dean wasn't going to make it.

Rachel sat there, her hand on Dean's shoulder starring into the forest around them, the only sounds being the birds, the wind and Dean's forced breathing.

She went to lay back and rest a little when something caught her eye. Looking over Dean about fifty feet away she saw something blue caught in a bush. Making the decision to go check it out, she shook Dean a little and his eyes fluttered open.

"Stay still for a minute. I wanna go check something out okay."

"What?"

She grabbed his right hand and wrapped his fingers around some strongly rooted plant life "Hold on tight and stay still I'll be back in a few minutes I promise." She assured him then stood up.

Before Dean had a chance to complain or object she made her way slowly and carefully over to where she saw the blue … whatever it was. She managed to make it across without any problems and once there she reached down and pulled the blue thing away from the bush. It was a bag.

Her hopes lifted and she hoped to god that it was Dean's bag that had the first aid kit in it. Sitting down on the ground Rachel unzipped the bag and took a look inside. To her complete joy she found not only a first aid kit but 2 bottles of water, rope and Peanut M&M's. What he thought he needed the M&M's for she didn't know and truthfully she didn't really care. Hopefully this meant that their luck had changed.

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Sam had never been so relieved to just be able to move. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. It had taken roughly another three and a half hours for the paralysis to completely wear off but to Sam it felt like a life time.

He looked down at his watch and saw that it was late afternoon and this whole thing had started early morning. He really needed to get out of there and find out what happened to his brother. He couldn't lose him now.

Sitting on the edge of the bed Sam looked at his boot clad feet, "Okay it's now or never." He croaked, testing out his voice.

He stood up and sat back down again with a thump, "Okay, legs obviously need a little practice." he said aloud.

He had been expecting that but he was getting impatient with everything taking so long to accomplish.

Counting to three he grabbed hold of the back of the chair that had been left beside his bed and lifted him self up into a standing position. He legs nearly gave out on him but after a few wobbly moments he managed to stay standing without to much trouble. Walking would a whole other thing, so he took his time and slowly took a step, then another and then another and eventually he made it across the room and to the closed door. He leaned into it for a moment.

Pushing off from the door he decided to make a few circuits around the room just to make sure his legs were sturdy enough. He wanted to be prepared for anything. Having his legs go out on him at an inopportune time wouldn't be the best.

Once he was satisfied with his ability to walk he walked over to the door and cautiously opened it, poking his head around it to look into the other room. He saw Simon sitting on a couch in what looked to be a small living room, cleaning a rifle. He opened the door a little more causing it to creak.

Simon looked up at the sound and smiled, waving Sam over "Sam, come on in man."

Sam walked warily towards the man noticing that he still had the rifle in his hands. Simon looked at Sam and then his rifle and put it down on the coffee table.

"It's good to see you up and about. Man that stuff has a kick in it hey. You have been out for most of the day."

"How'd you know my name?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"It was in your wallet. I checked it to see who you were."

"Right,"

"So Sam, are you looking to fight a war or what?" Simon laughed, earning a confused look from Sam.

"What do you mean?"

"Well that bag you were carrying had a whole lot of different weapons in it. Really cool stuff." Simon told Sam excitedly pointing towards his kitchen table.

Sam looked in the direction of the kitchen and saw that all his and Dean's weapons were laid out on the table.

"Who are you and why are you up here? I didn't even know people could have personal cabins up in this part of the national park."

Simon looked stunned at the amount of questions coming out of Sam's mouth, "See I knew you had questions."

"Well now that we have established that I have questions can you please answer them?" Sam snapped getting tired of the time that was being wasted.

"Okay. Okay, no reason to get shitty dude."

"Well?"

"Well like I told you before, my name is Simon Arnott."

"Any relation to the head Ranger what was his name? Tony Arnott I think it was." Sam asked when he remembered reading the name on a board inside the ranger station.

"Yeah actually that's my brother." Simon answered bitterly.

"Okay so how do you have a cabin out here?" Sam asked getting back to the matter at hand.

"This is my father's place. He was a ranger too. Nobody knows that this place still exists. It's pretty hidden."

"What do you know about the Manticore?"

"Ah yes sorry about that." Simon said breaking eye contact with Sam and walking over to stand by the fire place.

"Why are you sorry?" Sam asked confused.

"Monty is sort of my pet, in a way."

"You have a Manticore as a pet?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Are you nuts? Do you know how dangerous those things are?"

"I have taken the proper precautions."

"Obviously not or I wouldn't be here!" Sam yelled.

"That won't happen again." Simon told him as he sat back down and began cleaning his gun again.

Sam stood in the middle of the lounge room in a stunned silence. This just kept getting worse and worse. Now he had a nut who thought it was a good idea to keep a Manticore for a pet.

Sam walked over to where Simon was sitting and snatched the rifle out of his hands, "What the hell do you want a Manticore for and how the hell did you get your hands on one for that matter?"

"I just wanted to scare them a little, that's all." Simon yelled back.

"Scare who?"

"My brother, the other rangers,"

"Why?"

"You don't understand. My whole family, are rangers and hunters. My grandfather was a ranger here, my father was a ranger here and now Tony is too. They are all great hunters." Simon explained.

"And?"

"And when I decided to follow in my families footsteps and join the Pike's Peak Rangers they told me that I basically wasn't good enough. I wanted to show them that I was just as good as my wonderful fantastic brother Tony, who can do no wrong."

"So you decide to kill everybody using a Manticore to prove that you as good as the rest of your family?" Sam asked shocked at these new turn of events.

"You don't understand what its like to be shunned by your family like that. To never live up to you fathers expectations, to always be in you brothers shadow."

"In fact I have felt like that from time to time but that never made me kill anyone." Sam told the man, thinking that the man was definitely nuts.

"I never meant for anyone to actually die … the spell was supposed to work." Simon continued running his hands through his blonde hair messy hair.

Sam stopped short when Simon mentioned a spell, "Wait, what spell?"

"The spell my uncle gave me." Simon replied like that explained everything.

Sam closed his eyes for a minute and sighed. Simon's actions were becoming more erratic like he was losing it. Sam was going to need to calm him down if he wanted the full story.

"Look Simon, sit down and tell me exactly what's going on."

"Why?"

"Because damn it! Because of your damn Manticore my brother and an innocent young woman are out there probably hurt and I need to help them." Sam told him angrily.

"That man is your brother?"

"Yeah."

"Man I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt." Simon whined.

"I know that, now please tell me exactly what's going on so I can help at least save my brother and our friend." Sam said making his voice a lot softer in order to calm the man down.

Simon closed his eyes and nodded. He sat down and opened his eyes and looked towards Sam who had taken a seat on the coffee table.

"When I was told I wasn't good enough to join the rangers I went to my Uncle Trevor. I was upset and I told him I wanted to get back at them and prove to my father and brother that I was a great hunter and could be a great ranger too," Simon explained.

"He told me that I should try and hunt and catch a Manticore because they were supposed to be really difficult to catch. I could prove that I was good enough and I could get the rangers back by giving them a good scare. I didn't believe him at first because I didn't even think the Manticore was real. My Uncle contacted some hunters that specialized in this type of hunt and we headed over to India with a spell that my Uncle said would guarantee that the Manticore would remain under my control."

"Go on." Sam urged. He would have to ask his fathers friend Caleb or someone when they got out of this, if he knew any hunters, in their field, by the name of Arnott.

"Well long story short, we caught one, and I put the spell on it. It worked for a while. The Manticore was just scaring tourist groups and wreaking a little havoc with the rangers but … then it all went wrong. Monty started to kill and eat the people. I tried to stop him honest I did. I never wanted anyone to die."

"Wow," Sam said massaging his temples, thinking that this whole thing was so screwed up.

"I realized that Monty wasn't in his cave and went out to find him. That's when I saw him attack you. I called him off and then found you not too far down that big drop and brought you back here to recuperate."

"What about Dean? Did you see any sign or my brother and Rachel?" Sam asked hopefully.

"No I think they fell a lot further down and I wasn't equipped to after them. I doubt they would have survived falling that far down anyway." Simon said callously.

Sam jumped him as soon as the words were said, grabbing Simon by his collar, "You might not give a damn about your own brother but you better hope that mine is okay." He said menacingly.

Simon tried to back up couldn't because of Sam's strong grip. After a moment or too Sam could see that Simon got the picture and let the man go before his anger got the better of him. Sam got up and started pacing again for a few seconds then stopped and turned to Simon.

"Where is … Monty now?"

"He … he is in his cave." Simon said wary of the still simmering Sam.

"Show me." Sam ordered.

Simon nodded and led Sam out the door of the cabin. Sam followed the man in silence down a short path towards, what looked like a wall of leaves and vines. Simon pulled apart the leaves to reveal a medium sized cave.

"What the hell?" he heard Simon curse.

He looked inside the cave and noticed that the bars that had been fixed in place had been pulled apart leaving a great big gap and a very empty cave.

The Manticore was missing.

TBC ...

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Hope everyone liked this chapter and please** review** i love hearing from you guys** :-)**


	14. Apologies and Grief

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone. I am terribly sorry for how long it has been since i updated. Been really busy and i tried to update yesturday but the site was having problems from my end ... anyways i hope you all like this next chapter :-)

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**Chapter 14. Apologies and Grief**

Rachel almost tripped down the hill in her haste to get back to Dean with the bag of his supplies she had found. Taking extra precaution the rest of the way, she made it back to where she had left Dean, with no disasters.

Upon hearing her coming back Dean opened his eyes and looked her way, relieved that she was coming back and even more relieved that she was carrying a very familiar blue bag.

"Our luck has just changed." Rachel announced as she seated herself down next to Dean.

Dean smiled "You found my M&M's."

"More than just your M&M's, here have some water." She answered unscrewing the top of the bottle of water and handing it to him.

Rachel noticed that his hands seemed to be shaking an awful lot so she helped guide the water bottle to his mouth.

"Whoa there you don't wanna make yourself sick, slow down a little." She chastised him, taking the bottle away when he started taking large gulps.

"Thirsty."

"I know but we have been going at it hard all day without any water and if you drink too much too fast you'll be sick and we really don't need that right now."

"Spoil sport." Dean sulked as he started taking smaller sips out of the bottle that was placed back into his hands.

Dean hadn't realized just how good water was up until this point and relished in the feeling of it wetting his very dry throat. Once he had taken his fill he handed the bottle to Rachel.

"At least we can patch up your wounds properly now." Rachel said holding the first aid kit up for him to see.

"Oh joy." He said sarcastically, pulling a face at the thought of his injuries been tended too.

"It has to be done."

"I know."

Rachel went about trying to find the materials she was gonna need to change the makeshift bandage covering the wound on his back. This wasn't going to be easy considering they were sitting on the side of a big hill.

"I'm gonna do your back first, are you ready?"

Dean nodded glumly and allowed her to help him up into a sitting position on the slanted ground. Rachel untied the ripped shirt and unwound it from his body. Once that was done she proceeded to pull the vest away from the wound but stopped short when that caused him to gasp out in pain.

"Sorry!"

"It's … okay." He replied once he recovered enough to speak.

"I think maybe the blood and sweat have caused the material to stick." She said grimacing.

"It felt like you were tearing the skin off."

"I'll try to take it off slowly …" Rachel began when Dean cut her off.

"No! Rip it off quickly! It might hurt like a bitch but it's better than dragging it on."

"Are you sure?"

"I just want this over with as soon as possible."

"Okay then," Rachel said, hating to have to cause him any more pain "On the count of three."

"Why is it always three?" Dean asked distractively.

"I have no idea, now are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be,"

Rachel counted to three then ripped the vest away from his back as fast as she could, but it still didn't prevent the scream the came from Dean's mouth.

Even though he had prepared himself best he could for the pain it still brought tears to his eyes. Dean's world had become a haze of pain as it felt like the wound on his back was burning. He continued to breathe harshly though the pain as Rachel held onto him, keeping him from falling back down.

Rachel waited as calmly as she could for Dean to get control of himself again before she let go of him. Once he had managed to stay upright by himself she grabbed the bottle of water and tried to wash the angry red wound as carefully as possible.

She poured some antiseptic over it causing Dean to hiss, "Sorry, sorry!" she apologized quickly.

"It's okay." He whispered back preferring to put all his effort on staying conscious. It wasn't a comforting thought that as soon as Rachel was finished with his back she was going to move onto his wrist.

"I think it's infected." Rachel informed, bringing him out of his light haze.

"I know … it's infected." He breathed out.

"That's not a good sign is it?"

"Ya … think?" he answered sarcastically.

"I'm sorry!" Rachel apologized once again.

"What for?" Dean asked, looking at her quizzically.

"This is all my fault." She said brokenly.

"How in the hell is this you're fault?"

"If I hadn't sneaked up here then you wouldn't have been too busy arguing with me to notice that monster. I'm sorry."

"Wait a second here if anyone is to blame it's me not you. I've been taught to be more aware of my surroundings … I shouldn't have been distracted. I could have gotten you and Sam killed. God knows where Sam is." He said, getting that desperate look on his face whenever he thought of his missing brother.

"I'm sure Sam's alright." She quickly tried to reassure when she realized in her moment of despair she had caused Dean to start blaming himself.

"Let's get this re-bandaging over with huh?" Dean suggested, avoiding the subject.

Rachel just nodded and went about re-bandaging his wounded back, trying to be as gentle as possible. As gentle as she was being it still caused him to flinch and stifle a groan and she was never gladder when she finally finished with his back.

She grabbed some more bandages and began re-bandaging his now swollen broken wrist. Dean pretty much kept his eyes clenched shut through the whole procedure and was startled when Rachel spoke.

"I'm not gonna get Pete back am I?" she asked quietly, afraid to ask the question she already knew the answer to.

"I don't …"

"Tell me honestly Dean," Rachel said interrupting him, "I know how unlikely it is."

Dean sighed, debating on whether he should voice his true opinion. Coming to a decision he spoke.

"Honestly … with the Manticore's track record of eating its prey straight away I think that there is a great probability that he didn't make it. But I'm still holding out hope." Dean told her trying to put it in the best way.

Rachel lowered her eyes and concentrated on tying off the bandage around Dean's broken wrist. She had been feeling less and less confident about finding him since he had gone missing and this latest little adventure had just reinforced her fears.

"What am I gonna tell Katie?" she asked quietly.

Dean heard the tears in her voice and his heart went out to her. He knew what it was like to a parent at a young age.

"I don't know but I do know one thing," he began after thinking for a minute, "That little girl is strong and smart just like her mother and I think with each other to lean on you could get through anything."

"It's just so hard ya know. I'm sick of losing people." She said tearfully.

"I haven't known you all that long but I get the impression that you'll be able live through this … even though it might not seem like that right now." Dean told her not quite knowing what to say.

"Rachel …" He began but stopped, not sure if he should go on or not.

Rachel looked up when he stopped talking, "What?"

"Um … I'm sorry about your brother." Dean said quickly.

"Marshall? How did you know about my brother?"

"I read it in the newspaper." Well it was only a half lie.

"Oh … thanks."

Both went quiet for a few moments collecting their thoughts. Dean wanted to confess and apologise to Rachel for causing Marshall's death but couldn't bring himself to right now. He couldn't seem to find the right words, especially when at the moment she already had enough to deal with, but the guilt was eating at him even more since he had been in Rachel's presence.

Rachel was trying to move past her grief. In all honesty,she knew that Pete had died a long time ago but she had not been willing to admit defeat. One main reason was because she didn't want to face Katie and tell her that the only man she had called Daddy was dead. She had no idea what to say to her. She looked up and saw that Dean was shivering and had a fine layer of sweat covering his brow. They needed to get out of here and they needed to do it yesterday.

Getting a grip of herself she tried to put her grief aside for the time being. The most important thing right now was to get to safety and most importantly to get Dean to a hospital because he was getting worse and worse. Her wallowing in grief was not helping their situation. She picked up the bottle of water and unscrewed the lid again, holding it out to Dean.

"Here have some water and then we should try to move out again."

Dean took a shaky hold of the water bottle and took a few sips, determined to be able to hold the bottle without help. He needed to be able to do something by himself. He handed the rest to Rachel, which she finished quickly and then stashed the bottle back in the bag, then slung it on her back.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked the prone man.

"I'm gonna have to be because I'm sure as hell not staying here." He grunted as he tried to sit up.

Rachel stood up and then seeing Dean's struggle, she helped him to sit up again and then making sure her feet were steady she helped him get to his feet. As soon as Dean was standing he swayed dangerously and couldn't contain the grimace that spread across his face as he jostled his injuries. Rachel kept a hold of him and he managed to not to fall, but the sudden vertigo made him queasy and he had to contain the nausea that bubbled up.

It took them a few minutes but eventually they were ready to start their climb to the top once again

As they began their slow ascent up the mountain Dean couldn't help his thoughts as they drifted back towards his brother. Thinking back on his conversation with Rachel from moments before, brought one question to his mind. What was he going do if he couldn't find Sam and what was he going to tell his father?

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Hope you enjoyed this and i will definately update soon.** Reviews** are more than welcome :-)


	15. Making it to the top

**Authors Note: **Wow another one already ... i wish i could post all my chapter's this fast lol enjoy :-)

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**Chapter 15. Making It To The Top.**

Sam stormed back into the cabin all the while thinking that he couldn't believe what was happening.

"Dean is right people are crazy." He muttered to himself.

He threw open the door to the cabin and walked quickly over to the dining table where all his weapons were placed out. Turning around he searched for his back pack. He found it sitting on one of the chairs. He picked it up and began to put the weapons into the bag as fast as he could. He couldn't help but think that he needed to hurry, that Dean and Rachel were running out of time.

It had crossed his mind that, considering how far they had fallen, that they could already be dead but as soon as that thought crossed his mind he banished it. He wouldn't believe that his brother was dead. But that didn't mean that he couldn't be hurt and Sam had no idea how long the Manticore had been missing. He was just praying that he reached Dean before the Manticore did because Dean had no way to defend himself since he had all their weapons.

Sam finished putting the last of the weapons into the backpack keeping one shotgun out for himself, then zipped the bag up and threw it on his back before hurrying for the door. He was so worried about Dean and in such a hurry to get going that he had almost forgotten about Simon, that he ran into him as he headed for the door.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked, blocking Sam's exit.

Sam looked at him and thought that it would be quite easy to knock the guy out the way. But considering that this Manticore was apparently, the man's pet, then maybe he might come in useful.

"I'm going after that overgrown pet of yours before it can get to my brother. So either help me or let me through. The choice is up to you."

"I'll help. Hold on." Simon replied running past Sam and picking his rifle up off the coffee table where he had left it.

Sam gave him an impatient look.

"Ready."

"Good lets go." Sam said, walking out the door, not waiting for Simon.

Sam walked out into the late afternoon air and slowed down realizing that at the moment he had no idea where he actually was. He stood waiting until Simon came and stood beside him, nervously.

"Okay which way?" Sam asked not entirely comfortable with having to rely on the obviously insane man.

Simon pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Sam, "I had a chip put into Monty so I could always track him. This monitor here shows us where he is."

Sam looked at Simon shocked. This was going to make things a lot easier than he thought they would be. Taking the small monitor out of Simon's hand he saw that the Manticore was headed for the original camp site, where Dean and Rachel had went over. The urgency in Sam's heart just intensified because he realized with the Manticore's superior speed he was more than likely going to get there before they would.

"Come on then we need to move fast." Sam ordered, ignoring Simon's silent request to have his monitor back.

"Yes Sir." Simon mumbled sarcastically, following closely behind him.

"One question," Sam said as they were running, "where the hell did you come up with name Monty?"

"It's short for 'Monty Cora'."

That name sounded vaguely familiar and then he remembered. It was another Dark Angel reference. At the moment he wished it was just a secret government organization he was dealing with instead of a hungry monster. What was it with TV show references with this job? First there was that episode of Grey's Anatomy, now Dark Angel, which was kind of ironic since Dean happened to look a lot like that dude Alec from Dark Angel. He smiled when he thought that Dean would love to have that guys special abilities. Now all he needed was to throw in a Gilmore Girl's reference and it would be complete. Jess had always said that he reminded her of Rory's boyfriend which again was ironic because that guy's name was Dean.

His musing was interrupted when Simon tripped into him nearly causing him to fall. He managed to catch himself in time and turned around to glare in Simon's direction.

"Sorry man."

"Just watch it and be careful … we don't have any time to waste." Sam told him angrily and then started off again. God he hoped Dean was alright. He picked up the pace, never more determined to get to his destination.

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Dean could feel his tired muscles straining with the effort to keep pulling himself along further. He was too hot; it was almost smothering, making it hard to breathe. He knew it was the fever. His eyesight was beginning to blur in and out making it hard to see. He could feel Rachel beside him. She had a tight hold of his, arm making sure he didn't fall. She had moved up beside him when helping him from behind was no longer enough. Rachel now had to take a lot more of his weight.

His foot slipped on some loose ground again and he stumbled, falling flat on his face, taking Rachel with him. She was too tired and wasn't quick enough to break his fall and he hit the ground hard with a grunt of pain.

"Dean, come on it's only a little further." Rachel tried to coax.

"Mmmgf." Dean grunted.

Rachel sighed and sat down next to him. She thought maybe they should rest for a little bit but they were so damn close that she didn't want to take any chances.

Now that she was sitting all her aches had come back in force. Her own fall down the mountain had caused a lot of nasty bruises. She was so tired but she knew she couldn't give up now. Dean wouldn't make it back up there without her help and she still had to get back to Katie.

She realized now how stupid she had been coming out here by herself, no matter how frustrated she'd been. Dean was right. Because of her stupidity she could have gotten herself killed and left her daughter with no-one. Not to mention the situation that Dean and his brother were in now. She didn't care what Dean said she knew that if she hadn't been there then he wouldn't have been distracted enough to be caught out by the Manticore, so in her mind it was her fault.

Rachel suddenly realized that it had been way to quiet and looked down at Dean who was still laying face down. He had his eyes closed and his shivering had gone up to a new level. He was extremely pale except for the red colouring of his cheeks caused by the obvious fever. She didn't need to take his temperature to know that he was getting worse. The bandages around the wound on his back were stained in red, but there was nothing more she could about that. She opened the bag and took out the remaining bottle of water.

"Dean here, have some of this," Rachel said offering him the water.

Dean remained silent and motionless so she prodded his shoulder and called out his name a little louder. It took a couple of tries but eventually she saw a sliver of green appear under half open eye lids.

"Dean you need to have some water."

"I don't feel so good." He complained uncharacteristically.

"I know but you need to have some water and then we need to get you out of here."

Dean frowned but let her help him get some water down his throat. His breathing still hadn't improved much and Rachel was beginning to wonder whether he had another injury that she had missed.

"Dean?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled groggily.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Dean was a silent for a moment but then answered, "I think I … hurt my … ribs a little. It doesn't help … that I keep … falling … on them."

"No I don't think that helps at all." She answered sadly.

"Maybe you should … go ahead without me? Bring back help … maybe?" he panted, then grimaced at his sore ribs.

"No way, firstly you have no way of defending yourself if that thing comes back and secondly, I'm not leaving you behind."

"Rachel …" Dean began but was interrupted.

"No Dean. No arguments, you're coming with me."

Dean grunted his displeasure at having to go any further but didn't give any further protests. He hadn't known her long but he had already learnt that she was almost as stubborn as he was and once she had made up her mind she didn't back down, which is what brought her out here in the first place.

Rachel took a swig of water before screwing the cap back on and placing it back in the bag, "Come on, only a little bit further." She encouraged standing up.

She reached down and grabbed his arm, pulling on it but he didn't move, "Come on Dean a little help. You can do it. Your not gonna find Sam if your laying down here now are you."

Dean looked up and glared at her. She knew that it was a low blow but it had the desired effect. Dean began to try to push himself up, using his good arm. She helped him the rest of the way and managed to catch him before he fell back down again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Just … give me … a minute." he said between breaths.

A few minutes later Dean nodded indicating that he was ready to move on, leaning heavily on Rachel.

"Okay then. Lets get this show on the road." She said with forced cheer.

Dean made a groan of complaint but began moving up again. He looked up and realized that it was true. They were almost there. He began to think that just maybe he might make it after all.

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Sam continued on his way looking between the path in front of him and the little monitor held in his hand, Simon following close behind, when a thought occurred to him. Handing the monitor back to Simon all of a sudden, he reached into his jacket pocket and brought out his cell phone.

"Damn." He cursed as he continued.

"Sorry man but I could have told you that you wont get any reception out here." He heard Simon say from behind.

"Wonderful!" Sam snapped.

"We're almost there." Simon told him.

Sam stopped for a moment and snatched the monitor back out of Simon's hands, "We have to hurry."

Simon rolled his eyes but continued running after Sam as he picked up his pace once again.

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"Oh thank god." Rachel said with great relief as she came over the edge of the mountain and onto solid ground.

She had never felt so relieved as she did right now. They had finally made it to the top. She turned around to where she had left Dean hanging on just below the edge. She thought she might have a better chance of helping him up if she was to get up first.

"Okay Dean, give me your hand." She yelled to him, to get his attention. He had been a bit spacey the last couple of feet, almost moving on automatic.

Rachel grabbed hold of his wrist and he wrapped his fingers around her hand in return. Knowing that this was the end Dean gathered up all his strength and slowly but surely started pulling himself up the rest of the way. With a lot of struggling on both their parts, Dean managed to get the rest of his body over the edge, where he laid sprawled on his back breathing hard from exertion and the tightness in his chest that his bruised ribs was causing.

"I can't believe we made it." Rachel exclaimed as she laid herself down next to Dean, her body more tired than she ever remembered.

"I knew we would … make it … the whole time." Dean said smirking drunkenly.

"Yeah sure you did, Mister leave me behind." she answered sarcastically, laughing a little.

"Just trying … to … be dramatic."

"Whatever," She laughed again, "we need to get out of here."

"Sam." Dean reminded her.

"Dean you'll be no good to Sam if you're dead. You need a hospital." Rachel told him seriously, standing up again slowly.

"No …"

"Oh my God!" he heard Rachel gasp.

Dean looked up at Rachel and noticed she was staring at something off in the distance with a petrified look on her face. Getting up to lean on his elbow he turned his head and looked in the same direction as Rachel. Things had just got worse yet again as he saw the frightening image of a Manticore standing across the clearing.

"Son of bitch." He cursed quietly as he watched the Manticore gave them a wicked smile just before advancing.

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please keep the **Reviews** comming ... i love em' :-)


	16. The Attack

**Author's Note: **Hey guys ... thanks all you you for sending reviews i absolutely love reading them :-)

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**Chapter 16. The Attack**

Sam hefted the bag on his back again as he continued to walk at a fast pace, in the direction of the Manticore or 'Monty' as Simon had dubbed it.

Looking down at his watch he realized that it was almost 5:30 pm. He had been separated from his brother all day and the longer it was taking to get to his destination the more he was worrying.

"Are you close?" Simon asked as he trailed behind Sam.

"Excuse me?"

"You and your brother, are you close?"

"Yeah," Sam answered without hesitation.

"Are you the older or younger brother?"

Sam stopped walking and looked back at Simon "Why all the questions all of a sudden?"

"Just curious."

"Yeah well curiosity killed the cat." Sam said as he started walking again.

"Good thing I'm not a cat then hey."

"So Simon … is there any particular way to kill a Manticore?" Sam asked ignoring Simon's question.

"Not as far as I know of." Simon told him eyeing him suspiciously.

"So with enough firepower we should be able to bring one down?"

"I suppose so," Simon replied then reached out a hand, grabbing Sam's jacket making him stop, "You aren't planning on killing Monty are you?"

Sam looked at Simon like he was stupid, "Simon this so called pet of yours has killed and eaten innocent people and is now quite possibly out hunting my brother, what do you think?"

"He has to eat too ya know." Simon argued angrily.

"He doesn't have to eat people!"

Simon didn't answer him, "Simon you know there is no other way."

Simon reluctantly nodded, so Sam once again resumed walking. Both men were silent for a moment and Sam's thoughts went back to his brother.

"You never answered my question." Simon commented.

"What question?"

"Are you the older or younger brother?"

"Younger why?"

"Like I said before, just curious." Simon answered.

Before Sam got a chance to respond a blood curdling scream was heard by both men. Both Sam and Simon glanced at each other and then both sprinted off in the direction of the scream, which Sam had a bad feeling had come from Rachel.

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Dean could still hear Rachel's scream ringing in his ears as he tried unsuccessfully to stand up. He looked in the direction of the Manticore and he thought that it looked amused. Before he had a chance to think about anything else he felt Rachel grab underneath his arms and try to haul him up. He tried to help her as much as he could and although he was a bit unsteady he managed to get to his feet. He was still leaning back a bit on Rachel and as she started moving back he had no choice but to follow her.

"THERE IS NO USE RUNNING. THERE IS NOWHERE FOR YOU TO GO!" Monty's voice boomed, sounding like a foghorn.

Although Dean had read that the Manticore could speak he was still shocked when words actually left its mouth.

"It can speak?" Rachel whimpered from behind him.

"Apparently,"

Dean's vision was swimming but he could still see that the Manticore was slowly closing up the distance between them. He felt Rachel almost stumble behind him and then heard her curse. And he knew that they had just hit the edge of the ditch again.

"I AM GOING TO ENJOY THIS!"

"Why are you doing this?" Rachel screamed.

"WHY DOES ANYTHING EAT? … BESIDES HUMAN'S ARE SO MUCH MORE FUN. THE TERROR IN THEIR EYES BEFORE I RIP THEM APART MAKES THEM ALL THE MORE DELICIOUS."

"Dean?" Rachel whimpered.

Dean knew that Rachel wanted him to tell her what to do but he realized he really didn't know what to do. They had no weapons and were currently cornered by a hungry Manticore. Coming to a decision Dean told her the only thing he could.

"Stay behind me and when … it grabs me … take off and don't look back." He said between breaths.

"Dean no …"

"I mean it Rachel, just do as I say." Dean almost whined to her.

"Stay away from us!" Rachel half cried, half screamed at the advancing Manticore who had gotten a little too close for comfort.

"IT WILL ALL BE OVER SOON." Monty said his lips forming a wicked smile before quickly taking the last few steps and wrenching Dean out of Rachel's grasp.

"Nooo!" Rachel screamed as she fell to the ground when Dean was taken from her.

The Manticore was now sitting on its hind legs and holding Dean up high against a tree by his throat, with one massive claw. Rachel stood frozen in fear as Dean struggled in the Manticore's grip.

Dean felt a new fiery pain shoot through his body as he was slammed up against the tree. He grasped at the massive claw holding him up by his throat. The claw was blocking his windpipe, allowing no air to get into his already strained lungs. The Manticore brought its face inches from Dean's, causing him to almost be sick from the stench of rotting flesh on the Manticore's three layers of teeth.

Monty sniffed his prey and seemed to halt his actions. Dean was losing his struggle with consciousness and now hung limply in Monty's grasp.

"THIS ONE IS INJURED!" Monty boomed almost deafening Dean with his voice at such close range.

Dean's last thought was _/No Shit/ _as his graying vision went black.

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Sam came charging out of the forest and skidded to a stop as he realized he had reached the campsite. He dropped his bag to the ground and it didn't take him long to spot the massive Manticore at the other side of the clearing. His heart almost stopped at the sight of Monty throwing his brother to the ground like a sack of potatoes. It scared him even more when his brother didn't move from where he had landed.

"I WILL FEAST ON HIM LATER BUT RIGHT NOW I WANT SOMETHING WITH A LITTLE BIT MORE LIFE IN IT!" Monty boomed turning in Rachel's direction.

"Nooo!" Rachel screamed again as she finally found her feet and tried to take off running.

Sam watched in horror as Rachel was caught by a very nasty looking claw and raised off the ground to become level with the Manticore's mouth.

Rachel began screaming and kicking out, all to no effect, Monty just watched her in amusement.

Sam broke out of his stupor and raised his shotgun, aimed and fired off three shot's directly into the Manticore's body. He looked on as Rachel was dropped to the ground and the Manticore looked down at the three bullet holes in its body, confused. Sam paused his assault, waiting to see what would happen. He wasn't entirely sure how much it would take to actually kill the damn thing.

Quickly glancing at Rachel he noticed that she hadn't moved since she had been dropped and he hoped that he hadn't acted too late. Looking back up at Monty he saw that the monster realized where the bullets had come from and was looking at Sam with fury in his bright blue eyes.

Monty roared and Sam almost had to block his ears. Enraged at being shot Monty momentarily forgot about his current dinner and began charging Sam. Sam aimed his shotgun again and was about to shoot another volley of bullets into the beast when all of a sudden he was pushed to the ground, his gun going flying.

Sam looked up from where he had fallen to see Simon standing over him facing Monty. He had almost forgotten about Simon since he had lost him in his sprint to the campsite. All of Simon's attention was now on his Manticore who had stopped a few feet away upon seeing his master.

"Monty, stop! You have to stop!" Simon shouted.

"WHY WOULD I DO THAT HUMAN?" Monty sneered.

"Because you can't kill people … it's wrong." Simon said trying to get the Manticore to listen to reason.

"ARE YOU GOING TO STOP ME?"

"If I have to," Simon replied shakily, reaching into his pocket at taking out a piece of crumbled out paper.

Sam watched as Simon started reciting a spell. He assumed it was the spell that his uncle had given him to control the Manticore in the first place. He started getting back up as he heard the Manticore give a booming laugh then charge a surprised Simon.

It all happened so fast. Sam had no choice but to watch as the Manticore lifted a screaming Simon into the air.

"FOOLISH HUMAN!" he said before biting down on Simon's head and ripping it off.

Sam looked away as he heard bones crunching. Getting a hold of himself he went to run towards his bag of weapons but, Monty, noticing Sam again beat him to it. He stood in front of Sam's bag, teasing him.

"THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFEAT ME!" Monty told Sam cockily and started taking a couple of steps towards his new found prey.

Sam looked behind him and saw the shotgun that had flown out of his hands, laying a couple of feet away. He knew he would never get there before Monty would be on top of him. He was at a loss of what to do.

_/I'm sorry Dean/ _he thought as Monty took a couple more menacing steps towards him.

TBC ...

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I hope this was okay ... please** review** and let me know :-)


	17. Fighting Back

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed and i hope you all like my next chapter ... it's not over quite yet :-P

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**Chapter 17. Fighting Back**

Dean coughed sending fire down his abused throat. He really didn't want to wake up right now but he got the sense that it was important that he did. He was still lying on his stomach, in the dirt where the Manticore had dropped him after he had lost consciousness. His left arm was underneath him, which did nothing for his broken wrist and injured ribs.

He had still yet to open his eyes but, as he was becoming more aware and the pain of his injuries made themselves known, so did his hearing.

"THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFEAT ME!" he heard the unmistakable sound of the Manticore's too loud a voice.

Hearing the booming voice made Dean shiver, reminding him that they were in real trouble. He just hoped that Rachel had done as he told her and ran off when the Manticore had taken him.

"Why did you kill Simon?" he heard someone shout who sounded suspiciously like his little brother.

_/Sam/ _The name jolted him awake. Sam was here.

Dean made an extra bit of effort and lifted his sore head from the ground and once his eyesight focused he saw that across the small clearing his little brother was being backed up by the Manticore.

/_Who the hell is Simon/ _Dean momentarily thought. Looking at Sam, even though he was a little far away Dean saw that he was holding no weapons and upon further inspection he noticed that their weapon bag was currently residing at the Manticore's feet.

He needed to distract the Manticore so that it was focused on him rather than Sam. Although he hated to admit it, but if anyone was going to save the day today it was going to be Sam because Dean knew that he was in no condition to much of anything but pass out again.

"HE WAS PATHETIC. HE THOUGHT HE COULD CONTROL ME WITH HIS SILLY LITTLE SPELL. NO-ONE CONTROL'S ME." Dean heard the Manticore growl at his brother and wondered what the hell he had missed out on when he had passed out.

Dean looked around frantically to see if there was anything he could use as a distraction and was just about to just yell out when he spotted something shining in a bush close to the cliff edge. It was his berretta. He silently thanked whoever was listening for at least granting him this luck. The gun must have fallen out when he had been pushed over the edge.

Gritting his teeth he began to pull himself over to the gun as fast as his body would allow. It took longer than he would have liked but he made it to his gun and thankfully wrapped his fingers around the handle.

Dean turned back towards the scene on the other side of the clearing and groaned as he pulled himself into the kneeling position and took aim.

"YOU LOOK LIKE YOU ARE GOING TO BE VERY TASTY." The Manticore boomed.

Sam gulped and took another glance at his shot gun that was sitting so close. He was just about to try and jump for it.

"I don't think so you freak of nature!" Dean shouted across the clearing, earning him surprised looks from both Sam and Monty.

Dean didn't hesitate and began emptying his clip into the Monster about to bear down on his brother.

Monty roared in outrage at being shot at for the second time and took a running jump and glided through the air, in Dean's direction.

Sam acted fast and dove for his shotgun. Once the shotgun was in his hands he stood up and ran towards his brother and the Manticore, firing at the same time. All the bullet wounds were starting to take effect but not before Sam witnessed his brother being tossed into a tree and smash to the ground.

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Rachel started awake. The first thing she noticed was her pounding headache. The second thing she noticed was that she was still in the forest. It didn't take her long to get her bearings and remember exactly what had been happening before she had been knocked out. She looked up quickly, just in time to see Dean get flung into a tree and hear Sam shout.

Putting her own pain aside she ran over to where Dean now lay slumped against the tree and was surprised to see that he was still awake.

The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. The sounds of people shouting and guns firing suddenly came apparent and she tore her attention from Dean, to the action in front of her. Sam was firing for all he was worth at the Manticore but he wasn't the only one.

Six Pikes Peak Rangers were adding their fire power to Sam's.

Sam didn't know how they had found them but he had never been so glad to see back up in the form of Rangers.

"What the hell is it?" One of them shouted at Sam as he fired his own rifle.

"Just keep firing!" Sam ordered not willing to give any explanations until he knew for sure that the thing was dead.

Monty roared for all he was worth and he was repeatedly pummeled with bullets coming from all directions. Eventually his body started to give out and he sank down in a heap. His long main coated in his own blood.

"Stop firing!" Sam shouted as he realized that the Manticore was down for the count.

The six rangers that had been firing all stopped but no-one lowered their guns. They had no idea what they had been firing at but they knew that it was definitely dangerous.

Sam ran over to his bag of weapons and took out one of the machetes that his brother had packed and then ran back over to where Monty was laying. He took a few cautious steps before he was standing over Monty's prone figure.

"Is it dead?" he heard one of the rangers's asked.

"Not yet," Sam answered distractively, "but nothing much can live without a head."

With that said Sam took one final look at the bloody mess below him and swung, cleanly chopping off Monty's head.

Sam stood there for a moment feeling as the adrenaline left his body and then he turned around to see Rachel leaning over a very still Dean.

"Dean!" he yelled and ran passed the very confused rangers in order to get to his injured brother.

Rachel looked up at hearing Sam call out his brother's name and then looked back down at Dean. She was sitting with Dean's head in her lap as he looked up at her, his eyes unfocused.

"It's gonna be okay Dean." She tried to assure him but she couldn't mask how scared she was.

"Rachel …. I … I'm sorry." Dean stuttered as he felt his body shaking involuntarily.

"Shh Dean. Save your strength." Rachel said running her hands through his short sandy brown hair.

"I …" he began but was interrupted by a coughing fit. He became more alarmed when he could taste blood in his mouth and he realized that his condition was even more serious than he originally thought. His mind was getting fuzzy and he was having trouble breathing.

Rachel was alarmed when she saw him cough up a little bit of blood. They needed to get him out of here fast.

"It's my fault …I didn't … mean to … kill him." he wheezed, finding it harder and harder to stay conscious.

"Dean you didn't kill anyone."

Rachel looked up as she felt Sam skid to a stop and drop to his knees next to them.

"Oh God, Dean!" Sam exclaimed, seeing the extent of Dean's injuries.

"Your … brother … I … I'm so …rry." He managed to stutter out.

"Dean, don't talk man … just concentrate on breathing okay. You're gonna be just fine." Sam said taking his brother in his arms when Rachel relinquished her hold.

"Sssammy." He gasped out, causing Sam to panic when he saw Dean's eyes roll back.

"No! Dean, come on man stay with me." Sam yelled at his unconscious brother, shaking him slightly to no avail.

Rachel looked on with a confused and scared look on her face as the paramedics that had finally arrived pushed past her to get to their patient.

"What happened to him?" one paramedic asked as the other one went to work on Dean.

"I … I don't know. I only just found him." Sam said, helping the paramedic lift Dean onto the stretcher.

"Miss, do you know?"

"Sorry?" Rachel asked coming out of her daze.

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"Umm … yeah we fell down the cliff face. He had a small piece of wood stuck in his back and a broken wrist … I think he hit his head pretty hard." Rachel answered listing off what she knew.

"Plus he was just attacked by that thing." Sam added.

"Oh and he mentioned something about his ribs being sore … I think that was it as far as I know." Rachel remembered.

"What's his name?"

"Dean … he's my brother." Sam answered not being able to take his eyes off Dean.

The paramedic looked up at his partner, "He has a couple of broken ribs and I think one of them might have punctured his lung. His breathing sounds pretty wet."

"He's gonna be okay right?" Sam asked worriedly, looking down at his brother.

"Well we need to get him to a hospital right away. We'll have to get him air lifted."

"They're already on their way, Nick."

"Can I go with him?" Sam asked anxiously. Dean hated flying so he really didn't want him to wake up alone in the air. He also didn't want to be apart from Dean for even a second. It felt like if he lost track of him he might lose him for good.

"No I'm sorry there won't be enough room. We parked the Ambulance as close as we could, Charlie here will get you to the hospital in no time."

Sam looked torn. He really wanted to ride with his brother but he knew there was no way for him to do so and the faster Dean got to the hospital the better.

"Its okay son he's in good hands." Nick told Sam as they heard the sound of the chopper.

Nick fastened the straps around Dean and then with Sam's help carried him to the centre where a rope had been lowered from the chopper. Sam watched anxiously as Nick fastened everything like a professional and made sure that both Dean and he were totally secure before patting Sam on the shoulder.

"See you at the hospital."

Sam took Dean's cold hand, "Hang in there Dean." He ordered, then reluctantly let go.

Nick gave a grim smile and then yanked on the rope indicating that he was ready to be taken up.

Sam stood back and watched as his brother was air lifted out of the clearing. He didn't pull his eyes away until he saw his brother was safely aboard the chopper and flying away.

Once Dean was gone Sam came back to reality and looked around. Rachel was standing next to Charlie wearing his jacket, her arms wrapped around herself, looking dazed from the ordeal.

He started over to them intending to get to the hospital as soon as he could but was stopped when someone grabbed his arm.

"You wanna tell me what the hell happened out here and what the hell that thing is?" One of the rangers's asked.

"I don't know what the hell that thing was," Sam lied easily, having years of practice, "But it killed Simon over there and nearly killed us."

"Simon?"

The ranger looked nervous all of a sudden and Sam understood why when he happened to glance at the man's name tag.

"You're Tony Arnott." Sam stated.

"Yeah," Tony agreed looking at Sam suspiciously.

"Sorry about you're brother." Sam said not quite knowing what to say. He just wanted to get to his own brother.

Tony looked lost, like the news of his brother's death had shocked him. The man obviously cared about his brother a lot more than Simon realized.

"Look can we do this later I really need to get to my brother." Sam asked impatiently.

"Yeah sure, go on, we'll be in touch." Tony told him distractively.

"Thanks," Sam said relieved and jogged over to where Rachel and Charlie were still waiting for him.

"Let's get you two to the hospital." Charlie said taking the lead, Sam hot on his heels. He really needed to make sure that Dean was okay.

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Dean could feel a slight vibration and wondered where he was. The last thing he remembered was trying to apologies to Rachel for getting Marshall killed and then Sam. Thank god his little brother was alright. All that time climbing back up worrying about Sam and the kid turns out in better health than what he was in. But the important thing was that Sam was okay.

"Dean?" a voice called. It was a voice he didn't recognize.

"Dean? Can you here me? Open your eyes son."

Dean's eyes fluttered for a moment before they open to mere slits. He saw a face of an older man with graying hair, probably in his late forties, leaning over him.

"Wha…" Dean tried to ask through the oxygen mask but it came out sounding more like a croak.

Nick put a hand on his shoulder "You've been badly injured; we're in a chopper on the way to the hospital."

Upon hearing that he was in a chopper Dean automatically tensed up, not having the strength to pretend that he was at all okay with being up in the air.

Nick saw his patient begin to panic and acted, "Its okay Dean we're just landing now, you're gonna be okay."

True to Nick's word, Dean felt a slight bump as the chopper landed. All he could do was lay there drifting in and out as he was taken out of the chopper and wheeled quickly into the hospital.

Dean could slowly feel a thick liquid which he knew to be blood began to block his air way. He coughed, splattering the oxygen mask with his blood. He vaguely felt the gurney come to a stop and people lifting him to another bed.

"He's chocking!" was the last thing he heard before darkness took him.

He was oblivious to the all the people rushing around him, and the flat line that was sounding loudly from the heart monitor.

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Hey everyone! I hope you all dont hate me too much for that cliffy please **review** and let me know what you think


	18. Hospitals

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed ... we are almost there :-)

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**Chapter 18. Hospitals**

"_Stay with me Dean!" Sam ordered, putting and arm under Dean's knees and one behind his back in order to lift his unconscious brother out of the Impala._

_Sam happened to glance towards the backseat and saw the two very scared faces of the kids that they had saved from the Rawhead. He had been so fixated on getting Dean to the Hospital that he had almost forgotten that he had the kids with him._

"_Follow me in!" he told them quickly, then lifted Dean from his beloved car, not waiting to see if the kids had followed him._

_Sam raced into the emergency foyer of the hospital, his brother, a dead weight in his arms, "I need help!" he shouted at the first nurse he saw._

"_My brother's been hurt! Please I need a doctor!" Sam yelled to anyone that was going to listen to him, not being able to contain his panic._

_Dean had not woken up since Sam had found him lying in a puddle of water down in that basement. The Rawhead's remains and the useless tazer in his brother's hand telling him what had happened while he had been getting the little girl and boy to safety._

_The nurse called for some help and a few moments later two orderlies rushed over with a gurney. Sam placed Dean gently down on the gurney and was never more relieved when a doctor appeared at his side._

"_What happened to him?" the doctor demanded as he grabbed Dean's wrist in order to check his pulse, frowning at what he found._

"_He was electrocuted with about 100,000 volts of electricity! He hasn't woken up since I found him." Sam supplied in a rush._

"_Alright people we need to get him in an emergency room fast or we're gonna lose him." The Doctor ordered and Dean was wheeled away so fast that Sam almost didn't have time to think._

_Sam began to follow but his path was suddenly blocked by a short nurse, "I'm sorry sir but you can't go in there."_

"_But …" Sam tried to argue, but was cut off._

"_No buts young man. Let them do their job." The nurse told him sternly but with a compassionate look. She dealt with families of patient's everyday. They all wore the same look on their faces as Sam had right now, panic and desperation._

_Sam nodded reluctantly and turned around running his shaking hands over his face. He couldn't get the picture of Dean laying their so lifeless out of his head._

"_Mister?" a small voice interrupted his moment of panic and Sam looked down and saw that the kids had indeed followed him into the hospital and probably witnessed the whole damn thing._

"_Hey." Sam said quietly, kneeling down he was at their level._

_The little girl was still holding her brother's hand and they both looked frightened as hell._

"_Mister? Are you okay?"_

"Hey are you okay?" Sam jumped, and looked toward Charlie who had asked the question.

He had been caught off guard by the memory of taking Dean to the emergency room directly after he had accidentally electrocuted himself. He shouldn't have been surprised to have taken that trip down memory lane since it wasn't all that long ago that he had raced Dean into the hospital. Sam hoped to god that today would not play out like that. He didn't think that they would find any miracle solutions this time around.

"Are you okay?" Charlie repeated when Sam didn't immediately reply.

"Um … yeah I'm fine." He answered distractedly.

Sam shook his head as if to clear it. He looked over at Rachel and for the first time since they had climbed into the back of the ambulance he noticed that she had been really quiet. He supposed that she was probably still in shock. Sam wasn't sure what had actually gone on while he was separated from his brother and Rachel and he wasn't sure how much Dean had told her. Even if Dean had explained a lot of things, seeing it with your own eyes could still be hard for normal everyday people to take in.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked her.

"Fine." She answered quickly.

Sam frowned at how fast she had answered him and was about to press when the Ambulance came to a stop and Charlie opened the back doors, "We're here." He announced.

Sam wasted no time in getting out of the Ambulance and running into the emergency room doors. He found the admittance desk straight away and ran straight up to it.

"Excuse me, my brother was brought in not long ago. Dean …" Sam told the nurse on duty, halting, while he tried to remember what id Dean had had on him, "Johnson." He added once the name came to him.

The nurse looked down at her chart for a moment and then looked up once she found what she was looking for, "Ah yes he was brought in an hour and a half ago. He was taken up to surgery."

Sam looked shocked for a moment. He hadn't realized that it had taken them that long to get down from the mountain, to the hospital.

"Surgery? Is he okay?" he asked with a anxious look on his face.

"I'm sorry sir but you'll have to wait for his doctor to come and see you."

"Please can't you get someone to go and check or something? I need to know how he is."

"I'm sorry but you'll have to wait. Go up to the waiting room on the 4th floor and I'll let the doctor know you're here." She told him patiently.

"Ple …"he was about to ask again when someone pulled him away from the desk by his arm.

"Nick?" Sam remembered the nice older paramedic that had gone with Dean in the helicopter, "Do you know how Dean is?"

"Nah I'm sorry but listen, come up to the forth floor and wait there and I'll see if I can't get you some news on your brother a little sooner." Nick offered.

"Thank you. That would be great!" Sam said appreciatively.

"No problems. Come on it's this way."

Sam nodded and followed Nick to the elevator praying to god that his brother was going to be fine.

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Sam had been waiting in the waiting room for Nick to come back for at least fifteen minutes and was getting more and more anxious. He couldn't seem to sit still. He would sit down for a few minutes then get up and start pacing, then sit down once again only to start pacing a few minutes later.

He walked over to the coffee machine and put a couple of coins in. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair as he wait for his coffee. He grabbed his coffee and took and sips and grimaced at the awful taste, but took another sip anyway. It was full of caffeine and that's all he was worried about at the moment.

He had been alone in the waiting room for the whole time he had been there so he looked up when he heard hesitant footsteps coming his way, hoping that it was Nick with some good news. He was surprised to see Rachel walking towards looking a little nervous.

"Rachel. Hi. How are you holding up?" Sam asked in a soft voice.

"I'm okay, a few major cuts and bruises plus this." She told him pointing to the butterfly clip holding together a nasty looking cut on her forehead.

"Have you spoken to Katie?"

"Yeah I rang her. In fact I'm heading off soon but I needed to speak to you first." She told him hesitantly.

"Sure it's better than pacing around here talking to my self." He joked giving a little laugh to try and lighten her spirits, earning him just a grim smile.

"Let's go talk over there shall we?" Sam suggested pointing over to the two chairs in the corner.

Rachel followed him silently over to the chairs and took a seat, Sam doing the same.

"What is it?" Sam asked when she hadn't spoken for a couple of minutes.

"Sam …," she started then stopped, "Sam I wanna know what Dean meant about my brother?"

Sam sat their shocked. He vaguely remembered, now that he thought about it, Dean blabbering on about killing someone, before he had lost consciousness, but obviously Sam hadn't caught the whole conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"After you had killed the Manticore Dean apologized for killing my brother Marshall and I want to know why he would need to do that?"

Sam sighed. When his brother recovered from his latest hospital stay he was really going to have to kick his arse for still not getting through that thick head of his that it wasn't his fault. He had no idea what he was supposed to tell Rachel. How the hell was she supposed to understand?

Rachel looked frustrated when Sam said nothing, appearing to be thinking, "Sam, Dean told me what you two do for a living. Now I may not know everything about it but I deserve to know what happened to my brother now will you please tell me?"

"You really wanna know what happened?"

"Yes damn it!"

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again _/here goes/ _he thought and he began retelling how Dean had been dying, how he had taken him to a faith healer and he was healed only to find out later that someone had died in his place, that someone happened to be Marshall Hall, Rachel's brother. He only hoped that Rachel had an opened mind.

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Nick walked into the waiting room to find the youngest Winchester leaning back in his chair cold coffee in his hand, fast asleep. It had taken him longer than he thought to get the information that he needed and as soon as he was told how Dean was fairing he made his way as quickly as he could to the waiting room.

He walked quietly up to Sam and took the half full coffee cup out of Sam's hand before he ended up wearing it. Placing the cup on the table next to the chair Nick gently shook Sam's shoulder, causing Sam to bolt up out sleep.

"Easy there son,"

"How's Dean?" Sam asked sleepily, becoming more alert.

"The ER nurse I spoke to, said that he had internal bleeding and punctured lung like we thought, amongst other things. They nearly lost him a couple times but they managed to get him stable enough for surgery. He's been in there for about an hour."

Sam paled when he heard Nick say that they had nearly lost him a couple of times. As thankful as he was for the information that Nick had given him, he desperately wanted the doctor to come out and tell him what was exactly wrong with his brother.

"Sorry that's all I could find out."

"That's okay I appreciate all your help."

"It's no problem. Is there anything else I can do before I have to get back to work?"

"No it's okay but I wanna thank you!" Sam said, standing up and shaking Nick's hand.

"He's gonna be fine. You'll see," Nick told him with a comforting smile, "well I better get going."

"Thanks Nick." Sam said, sitting back down watching the man walk away.

He looked down at his watch and realized that he hadn't been asleep that long when Nick had come and found him. After he had explained the situation to Rachel he had felt exhausted and promised himself that when Dean was better he was so going to get a mouthful about making Sam deal with that. It seemed no matter what Sam said or how many times he said it Dean was still going to take all the blame for Marshall Hall dying.

Sam also didn't know how to feel about Rachel at the moment. After he had finished his story she had looked naturally upset but she also looked like she was blaming them for her brother's death. Sam could handle her blaming him but any sane person should be able to see that Dean couldn't have done anything about it. Dean didn't need any help in the guilt department; he did that fine on his own. So as terrible as it was that Rachel lost her brother and now her husband, Sam was not going to let her come near his brother if she was gonna blame him. They didn't need that kind of setback.

Sam looked up when he once again heard footsteps and was relieved to see a doctor wearing scrubs walking towards him. He stood up immediately and met the doctor half way.

"How's my brother?" he asked, wasting no time with pleasantries.

"You must be Sam," the doctor theorized with a knowing smile, "I was told you were waiting for me. I'm Doctor Lincoln"

"Yes I'm Sam. Please Doc how is he?" Sam asked, starting to feel sick from all the tension his body had been feeling.

"Well I'm not gonna lie to you, it was touch and go for a little bit there. But your brother's quite a fighter." Doctor Lincoln told Sam, getting a small smile from him.

"He has a broken wrist, a major concussion, a nice hole in his back, two broken ribs, one of which punctured his lung. He also had internal bleeding plus the amount of blood he lost through his other injuries," the doctor explained, "We got him into surgery and reflated his lung and fixed his internal bleeding. We have him on a respirator just to help with his damaged lung but he should only need that until he wakes up."

"We also took him up for a cat scan and everything turned out fine."

"So he's gonna be fine." Sam needed to hear the doctor actually say it because the last time he had spoken to a doctor concerning Dean, the man had told him his brother was going to die.

"He's young and strong so barring any unforeseen circumstances he will fully recover. I'd say that your brother is a very lucky young man."

"Can I see him?"

"He's just getting settled in his room, I'll have a nurse come and fetch you when their ready."

"Thanks Doc." Sam said, shaking the man's hand.

"Your welcome, it was nice meeting you Sam." Doctor Lincoln replied and then walked off in the direction of his office.

Sam could feel himself shaking, all the anxiety and fear that had been a constant was slowly leaving him and Sam thought that he better sit down before his legs gave out on him. Sitting down on the waiting room chair, Sam leaned back and rubbed his hands over his face, letting the relief run through him. Dean was going to be okay.

TBC ...

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Hope everyone liked this chapter ... Dean is gonna live yay! lol :-)


	19. Vigil

**Author's Note: **I cant thank everyone enough for all the reviews ... i so love reading what you people have to say.

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**Chapter 19. Vigil**

Ten minutes later Sam was following a nurse down the hallway towards his brother's room. He had been so impatient to see Dean that when he saw the nurse coming towards him he had jumped up and nearly knocked her over.

While waiting he had debated calling their father to let him know what had happened but decided against it. He would have probably only given him an earful anyway. Right now it just wasn't worth it and he was just going to be happy that they had made it out of this disaster alive, once again. Sam thought that if they actually had a guardian angel, she was way over worked, but he was grateful nonetheless.

The nurse slowed down and stopped in front of room 494 and quietly opened the door waiting for Sam to walk in.

"Well here we are." The nurse informed him.

"Thanks!" Sam thanked her and gave her a small appreciative smile.

"No problem and if ya need anything just holler."

Sam nodded and watched as she left closing the door quietly behind her. Turning around he took in the sight of Dean. His brother looked like hell. His visible cuts and bruises were made more apparent because of how pale he looked. The tubing stuck down his throat to feed him oxygen wasn't exactly a pleasant sight but he was still alive and would make a full recovery so that's what Sam held onto.

He slowly moved closer to the bed and put his hands on the railing. Moving more towards the head of the bed he reached out and ran a hand through his brother's short hair. He knew that if Dean had been awake he would have tried to kick his ass for such a touchy feely moment but Sam was just too relieved at having him alive to care.

"I guess what you don't know, can't hurt you hey?" he whispered to Dean as he gave his brother's hair one last ruffle.

Taking his hand away he moved it to Dean's forearm and sat down in the chair by the bed, giving the arm a slight squeeze.

"Now you just have to wake up so we can have a long talk about what's going on in that jerk head of yours." He rambled quietly to his unconscious brother, his hand remaining on Dean's arm, needing the physical contact.

"Oh and we are so taking a rest once you get of here. I don't care if we get ten text messages from Dad."

Sam stared at his brother's lax face, looking for any sign that he might be hearing him or waking up or something. Dean gave no indication that he heard anything and for a few moments the only sounds coming from the room was the whooshing sound of the respirator and the beeping of the heart monitor.

Sam jumped when he heard the door open again. He quickly turned around to see the same nurse that had brought him to Dean's room. She was carrying a pillow and a blanket and Sam looked at her quizzically.

"Hey Mr. Johnson," she greeted with a shy smile, "visiting hours will be over soon but Doctor Lincoln seems to think that he might have trouble getting you to leave so we thought we would sneak you in a blanket and pillow."

"Hey thanks and please call me Sam." Sam told her truly grateful that no-one was going to make him leave tonight.

"No problems Sam and I'm Harriet," She introduced herself, "Now remember if you need anything give us a call."

"I will and thanks again."

He watched once again and she quietly slipped out the door. He turned back to his brother.

"Ya never know Dean, you might like this hospital a little more than the last one. The nurses are actually cute here." He joked, remembering the reason Dean had told him why he had signed himself out of the hospital after his heart attack.

Sam sighed at the lack of response but thought that it wasn't so bad because Dean would need all the rest he could get. He gave Dean's arm a final squeeze then laid his head down on the edge of Dean's bed.

"I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a bit." He mumbled to no-one in particular as his eyes slid shut. He was asleep in a matter of seconds.

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Sam was jolted awake by the feeling of something smacking him in the head. His memory came back to him fast as he remembered where he was and why he was here. Springing into action Sam stood up and leaned over his frantic brother. He pressed the call button and then concentrated on Dean, the sunlight shinning into the room through the open curtain making him squint.

"Dean you're okay. You have a tube down your throat to help you breathe. Do you understand?" he asked trying to get through to his brother.

Dean continued to gag on the respirator tube, making Sam have to hold his good hand down to stop him from ripping it out.

"Dean!" He said with a little more force, "calm down. Just try to breathe with it. Come on you can do it." Sam said soothingly, using his free hand to cup Dean's face forcing him to concentrate on him.

For a moment Sam thought that Dean was going to continue to struggle but then he saw recognition in his eyes and Dean tried his best to calm himself down.

Dean hated having that damn tube down his throat. He had woken up on a respirator before when he was sixteen and a hunt hadn't gone as planned. John had rushed him into hospital when he realized that that was one time he was not going to be able to patch his son up. That had happened a long time ago but the respirator caused the same feelings now as it did back then. It was like the thing was blocking his airway not letting him breathe. He knew logically that if he calmed down and let it work for him it wouldn't be so bad but that was easier said than done.

"Dean, can you hear me?" Dean's focus was brought back to the situation at hand when he heard someone talking to him.

That someone was not Sam and when he looked in the direction of the voice he saw what looked like a doctor starring down at him.

"Dean, are you with us?" Doctor Lincoln asked again, earning a slight nod from his patient.

"That's good Dean. I know the breathing tube is uncomfortable but we can take it out now. If you're ready,"

Dean just looked at the doctor like he was made, clearing saying without words to get that thing out of him now. Sam smiled his brother obviously hadn't lost any of his attitude during this ordeal.

Doctor Lincoln went about un-strapping everything. When he had finished he looked back down at his patient, "Okay Dean I'm gonna turn off the machine and then when I count to three I want you to cough as hard as you can. Do you understand?"

Dean nodded. He hated this part of all. It hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it to get the thing out of his throat. He felt Sam squeeze his hand and wondered briefly when he had grabbed onto Sam's hand.

Doctor Lincoln turned of the machine and then counted to three and as quickly as he could, removed the tube making Dean's cough turn into gagging and then coughing again once the thing was all the way out.

The next thing Dean knew a glass of water was placed at his lips and he took a few small sips and treasured the feeling of it sliding down his sore throat. As soon as the glass was taken away an oxygen mask was placed over his head, covering his mouth and nose. He immediately brought his good hand up to remove it but was stopped by the doctor's quick reflexes.

"Sorry but this stays on for a while at least … unless you want me to hook you up to the respirator again?" Doctor Lincoln warned.

Dean glared at the doctor but nodded briefly.

"How are you feeling Dean?" Sam asked anxiously, still gripping his brother's hand.

"Fine." He croaked out.

"Sure you are," Doctor Lincoln acknowledged dryly, "Just let me check out a few things and I'll leave you two alone."

Sam watched as the doctor checked things like Dean's pulse, blood pressure and a few other things he wasn't sure of. He looked back down at Dean to see that he was starting to drift a little.

"Hey Dean you had me worried there for a while." He stated loudly to keep his brothers attention.

Dean's eyes snapped open at Sam's voice "Are you …mnnkay?" he croaked out lazily. He was all of a sudden feeling very tired again.

Sam had to lean closer in order to actually hear his brother was saying, "Yeah Dean I'm fine thanks to you. Great diversion by the way,"

"Of course," Dean whispered smirking as he closed his eyes. He opened them a second later and looked at Sam, "Sammy!"

"Yeah Dean?"

"Is Rachel okay?"

"Yeah, she's a little banged up but she's fine otherwise."

"Good … good," Dean said quietly.

"Well Dean everything is looking good. All you need is some rest. We're giving you some antibiotics to fight the infection your wounded back caused but you should be back to normal in not time." The doctor said smiling; it felt good to be able to give some good news once and a while.

"When … When can I get out of here?" Dean asked removing the oxygen mask so he would be heard better.

Doctor Lincoln automatically replaced the mask, "hold ya horses there. You'll be here for at least a week. I may have said that everything is fine but your condition shouldn't be taken lightly all the same."

"He'll stay." Sam told the doctor, ignoring the glare he was receiving from his brother.

"Good. Now I'll leave you two alone. And Sam I suggest you get something to eat and some sleep in something other than a hospital chair. I don't want another patient on my hands." The doctor warned.

"I will Doc, thanks." Sam reassured him, smiling as the doctor exited the room.

"Sammy?" Dean's weak croak brought Sam's attention back to his brother.

"What?"

"The Manticore?"

"It's dead."

"Good." Dean said again as his eyes started slipping shut.

"Get some rest Dean." Sam ordered, then realizing the order wasn't needed because his brother was already fast asleep.

Although Dean had been awake only briefly it was still a great relief to see his brothers green orbs and to hear him speak. Now he just had to look forward to the Ranger's inevitable questions and Dean's week stay at the hospital. That was going to be a pain. Dean hated hospitals and the moment he was awake enough not to fall asleep on himself he would be nagging to be let out of here. Sam smiled _/with all the nagging he does in these situations and he calls me the Bitch/_ Sam thought shaking his head.

TBC ...

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I hope everyone liked that chapter. **Review** and let me know :-) catcha soon :-)


	20. Sam's Story

**Author's Note: **Okay guys we are definately coming to an end soon ... hope everyone likes this one :-)

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Chapter 20. Sam's Story**

Dean awoke to the sound of beeping and wondered for a moment what the hell the annoying sound was. Then it all came back to him and he let his eyes flutter open.

Looking around he saw that he was in a hospital room and that annoying sound was coming from the heart monitor. He was relieved to find that the respirator had indeed been taken out like he remembered and that he was also free from the annoying oxygen mask. He thought he seemed to think that a lot of things about hospitals were annoying. Speaking of annoying, he then noticed that the room was very vacant of his little brother

He started to worry that maybe he had dreamt that he had spoken to Sam but his worries were cast aside when he heard the door to his room open. He looked over and saw Sam stroll through the door holding a cup of coffee.

"Oh hey you're awake!" Sam greeted him enthusiastically.

"Apparently," Dean answered, wincing at his still tender throat.

"You were asleep for a while."

"How long has it been?"

"Since you first woke up? About 24 hours," Sam told him easing down in the empty chair beside the bed, sipping at his coffee.

"What time is it?" Dean asked looking longingly at Sam's coffee. It smelt really good.

Sam looked down at his watch then looked back up at his brother, "It's nearly ten in the morning."

"What happened?"

Sam frowned, "You don't remember?"

"It's still all a bit fuzzy after we got to the top of the hill." Dean said, coughing on the last word.

Sam jumped up and poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the bedside table and handed it to Dean, "Here."

Dean took some small sips and then handed the glass back to Sam once he was finished, "Thanks."

"Oh by the way I have a bone to pick with you …" Sam began but Dean cut him off.

"You have? I have one with you … Dude you pushed me off a cliff. Way to save someone little brother."

"I didn't know that there was a cliff there Dean and it was either that or get eaten by a Manticore." Sam told him raising his eyebrows.

"Well when you put it that way." Dean answered sarcastically and smirked when he could see Sam going to defend himself again. Sam was so easy to bait.

Their conversation was stopped short when the door to Dean's room opened again to reveal Doctor Lincoln, "Good Morning Gentlemen. How are we this morning?"

"Fine, in fact I think I could be ready to leave." Dean said quickly, looking hopefully.

"I think we'll let the doctor be the judge of that." Sam countered.

Doctor Lincoln grinned at the two brothers. He could tell from the short time that he had known them that they were very close and were not afraid to tell each other off should the situation call for it.

"Okay Dean, how's your throat feel?"

Dean just looked at the doctor for moment deciding whether lies or the truth would be in his best interest. Glancing at Sam he saw that he had that determined look on his face that told Dean that he wasn't going anywhere anyway until Sam was satisfied so he opted for the truth. Well at least a little bit of the truth anyway.

"Still a little bit sore but it's getting better."

"That's good. Are you having any difficulty breathing?"

"Not really … maybe it's a little tight."

"That's to be expected with a punctured lung. We have repaired the damage and you should start to feel a little less breathless in the next couple of days. If it gets any worse, let me know straight away okay."

"Sure thing Doc,"

Doctor Lincoln then proceeded to check his temperature, pulse, blood pressure. Looking back up at Sam once he had finished his exam, Sam thought he looked pleased with his patient's recovery.

"Well Dean I think everything is coming along fine."

"Does that mean I don't have to stay the whole week?"

"We'll see how things go. If you feel up to it you can take a walk around but only if you have Sam or a nurse with you. If you succeed with that we'll re-evaluate you. Deal?" Doctor Lincoln asked looking directly at Dean.

"Deal," Dean answered shaking the man's hand.

"Okay well I have other patient's to see to but it was nice finally meeting you while you're coherent Dean." Doctor Lincoln smiled.

"Thanks Doc." Sam thanked the doctor, also shaking his hand also.

"Oh Sam one of the Pike's Peak ranger's is here and wanted to ask you a few questions. Do want me to send him in or should I tell him to meet you somewhere?"

Sam looked over at Dean who just shrugged, "May as well get it over and done with."

"Okay then, I guess you can send him in and thanks again Doc." Sam told him.

"No problem Sam, get some rest Dean." The doctor ordered before leaving the room.

"Man I have been asleep for nearly two days, you'd think I'd had enough rest." Dean grumbled as soon as the doctor was out of the room.

"Yeah well for once in your life you're gonna follow doctor's orders." Sam said smugly to his brother, happy to have the upper hand for a change.

Dean sighed and decided to go along with Sam for now because regardless of how much sleep he had already had he was still too tired to argue, "Okay what's our story?" he asked, relaxing into the pillows.

"Well I told Ranger Arnott at the scene that I had no idea what the Manticore was. We were just out their investigating the disappearances when we were attacked." Sam explained.

"We'll just have to stick with that for now."

"You do realise the name's we have used here are different to out fake cop Id's?"

"God how the hell did we make that amateur mistake?" Dean complained.

"I don't know!" Sam exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"Think he'll notice?" Dean asked.

Sam didn't have a chance to answer. The door to Dean's room opened slightly and Ranger Tony Arnott stuck his head through the gap, "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all, Ranger Arnott." Sam said gesturing him into the room.

"I almost had trouble tracking you down. Your registered under different names than the ones you gave the station when you first arrived."

Sam looked towards Dean who had a look on his face as if to say I guess that answers that question. Sam looked back at the Ranger and was about to answer when Tony cut him off.

"Before you tell me anymore lies I want to let you know that I know you know more than you're letting on about that creature … whatever it was and I know you're not cops. I have a friend at the local police department and had you looked up. So, no more lies okay."

Sam and Dean were both silent for a moment. Sam wasn't sure what he should say or how much he should tell this guy.

Tony looked exasperated, "Look I could be wrong but I get the feeling that you aren't the bad guys in this so I am willing to keep an open mind."

Sam looked back at Dean silently asking him his opinion. Dean gave him a look that said what the hell so Sam turned back to Tony.

"Okay as long as you have an open mind." Sam heard Dean say from behind him.

"I just found my brothers dead body up there with his head bitten off. I just really wanna know what the hell happened."

"Your brother mentioned you had an Uncle Trevor that is a hunter." Sam began

"Yes."

"Are you aware of what it is your uncle hunts exactly?"

"My Uncle is crazy, always talking about hunting these great mythical beasts."

"Well I can't talk about your Uncle's mental state but some of those mythical beasts aren't so mythical."

Dean listened to the conversation that was taking place. This was all news to him and it made him wonder what the hell Sam had been doing while he was climbing up that Damn Mountain.

Tony walked further into the room looking sceptically at Sam, "You're trying to tell me that monsters are real and that that's what that thing up at Pike's Peak was."

"Something like that, look I'll start from the beginning."

Sam offered a seat to Tony and began to tell the man what had happened up at Pike's Peak. How they had gone up there to investigate the disappearances and found Rachel Carter. How Sam had seen the Manticore and tackled Dean and Rachel out of the way not realising that they were standing at a cliff edge. He explained how the next thing he knew he woke up paralysed, having being stuck by one of the Manticore's stings.

He explained how Simon had taken him back to his father's old cabin and once he was able to move around again, Simon had explained everything about capturing the Manticore and his Uncle's spell.

As tired as Dean was starting to feel he couldn't let himself drift off till he heard the end of his brother's story. He couldn't help but ask himself why they always managed to run into nut jobs.

"Once we realised that Monty was missing we raced back to the campsite tracking him with this monitor your brother had. We found him attacking Dean and Rachel."

"What happened to Simon?"

"He pushed me out the way when just as I was about shoot the damn thing and tried to get it back under his control using that useless spell your uncle gave him,' Sam explained, "Monty didn't appreciate it. You guys showed up pretty much after that."

"After I got slammed into a tree," Dean added.

"I have been meaning to ask you how you knew we needed help." Sam asked all of a sudden.

"We got a phone call from an FBI agent telling us that they had been keeping an eye on the area and that some people were being attacked by a creature."

"Really?" Sam asked sounding surprised.

"Did he give you a name?" Dean asked.

"Um yeah I think it was Agent Chesterfeild. Why?"

"No reason." Dean answered, sharing a quick glance with his brother.

"You know that's a pretty crazy story you just told me." Tony told them, making them both hold their breath.

"You asked for the truth."

"To be honest if I hadn't have seen that … whatever you call it … I probably wouldn't have believed you."

"But you do?" Sam asked raising his eyebrows.

"Well I sure as hell don't have any other way to explain what I saw."

"You know as crazy as your brother was he did try to do the right thing in the end." Sam tried to give something for Tony to hold on to.

"Too bad he didn't realise his mistake before a whole lot of people had to die." Dean commented from his bed.

"Dean …" Sam chastised.

"No he's right. If you two hadn't come along then we might have never figured out what was doing the killing which is why … I have decided that I'm not going to say anything to the cops."

"Thanks."

"Okay well I guess I better be going, you must be tired." Tony said standing up and walking to the door.

Sam stood up from leaning on Dean's bed and walked the ranger to the door, "Again I'm sorry about Simon."

"Thanks. You two look after yourselves." Tony said, giving them a sad smile then exiting the room.

The room was silent for a moment while Sam made his way back over to Dean.

"So Agent Chesterfeild … that's one of Dad's aliases." Dean commented, looking up at Sam.

"Yeah I noticed that too … you don't think it was actually Dad that made the call do you? I mean how would he even know what was happening?" Sam asked

"I don't know Sammy but anything's possible. The man has his ways." Dean smirked.

"Yeah that he does. I guess we won't know until we find him." Sam replied even allowing himself a small smile.

"I guess so," Dean yawned, "Sammy?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell kind of name is Monty for a big Manticore?"

Sam gave a small chuckle, "Don't ask."

Sam looked at his brother and he looked just about ready to fall asleep again, so he was surprised when he heard him speak.

"Hey Sammy have you seen Rachel?" Dean asked sleepily.

"We'll talk about that later when you wake up." Sam said softly, almost forgetting that he still had that subject to deal with.

Dean had his eyes closed but still gave Sam a confused look, "She's okay though right?"

"Yeah Dean she's fine."

Sam watched as his brother drifted off to sleep. Sam noticed that it was times when Dean was sick or injured that he managed to sleep the most and this time around he thought it was a combination of lack of sleep, injuries and whatever they were giving him through the IV. Doctor Lincoln had told him that it was perfectly normal for Dean to be tired so he wasn't too worried about it. What he was worried about was the coming conversation.

TBC...

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Okay now i am pretty sure that the next chapter will be the last chapter ... i think lol Well i just thought i should warn you just in case it is. I'm trying not to rush and ending coz that can just so ruin a good story lol Hope you liked this chapter. **Reviews** are greatly appreciated. :-) 


	21. Stubborn

**Author's Note: **Okay i was mistaken ... this isnt the last chapter. It ended up taking me two chapters to finish this off lol Enjoy :-)

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Chapter 21. Stubborn**

Sam couldn't help but wonder why hospital chairs were always so uncomfortable. Although he had a sneaking suspicion that they were made that way to discourage people from hanging around longer than they were suppose to. Regardless of what the reason was, it wasn't doing any good for his back or butt for that matter.

Looking over at Dean he was grateful that he was actually resting like he was told to do. He had been asleep for at least half an hour and Sam was now starting to get board. He was also anxious about discussing Rachel with Dean. Especially when he had no idea what was going through Rachel's mind.

Since the young mother hadn't been back since his discussion with her the other night he was going to assume that she was blaming them for her brother's death. Sam understood how she might be upset and might need time to think things through but he just hoped that she understood that there was nothing that they could have done to stop it. Like he told Dean when they found out that Marshall had died in his place, he probably would have died anyway and someone else would have been healed. As much as Sam was sorry for her loss he couldn't help but acknowledge that he was glad to have his brother around regardless of the ramifications.

Sam sat forward in his chair and stretched his stiff muscles. His small tumble down the hill hadn't exactly done him the best either. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a piece of plastic sticking out of the top drawer of the bedside table. Being bored and curiosity getting the better of him he opened the drawer. Looking inside he found a clear plastic bag containing the personal belongings that had been taken off his brother when he arrived. Lifting the bag out of the drawer he saw his brother's necklace. The only time he remembered the protective charm being off his brother's neck was when that shape shifter had turned into Dean stealing his necklace. Also in the bag was Dean's silver ring that he always wore on his right hand and his cell phone.

The cell phone peaked his interest. Dean had saved Rachel's cell phone number in his phone when she had called him. He started debating whether he should give her a call. He had no idea whether she would even want to talk to him but maybe he could at least try and get her to see that of all people to blame for her brother's death, Dean was the least.

One last look at his brother and he decided that he needed to get some more coffee anyway. Picking up the necklace, he placed it in his brother's hand and then left the room carrying Dean's cell phone with him.

Sam walked out to the outside eating area of the hospital cafeteria, coffee and cell phone in hand. He had been inside for nearly two days and it was nice to be outside again. He sat down and took a long drink of his coffee, making a face. The coffee here was just as bad as every other hospital he had been in.

Flipping open Dean's phone he opened up the contact list and searched for Rachel's name. It didn't take long to find and Sam hesitated before finally pushing the send button.

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Rachel scooped a bunch of clothes out of the dresser drawer and dumped them on the bed and began packing away her and her daughter clothes ready for their trip home.

The Ranger's had done a search of the area again at her request but could still find no sign of her husband. She knew a new search would be fruitless, especially after she had come face to face with the monster she had thought was only in her daughter's dreams.

Once she got back home to Nebraska she was going to have to plan her husband's funeral. Well more like a memorial service considering they didn't have a body to bury. Rachel's eyes began to tear up again for what felt like the millionth time since she had accepted his death.

Telling Katie had been the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She had had no idea where to start or what to say and in the end she hadn't had to say anything because Katie knew by her actions that her Daddy wasn't coming home.

The little girl had been even more reclusive since her mother had been back with the news and Rachel was at a loss. She realized that for now the only thing she could do is be there for her and let her grieve.

Rachel realized that she had stopped packing when he heard her phone ringing. She walked over to where it was sitting on the bench and picked it up looking at the screen for the caller id. She was surprised to see the name Detective Morrison come across her screen. She was so not in the mood to talk to him right now.

She had been shocked when he had confessed that he was sorry for killing her brother. She had been confused because her brother had died of a heart attack. Although it was strange for a fit, 27 year old guy to die of a heart attack, she couldn't think of how Dean had felt himself responsible. Once at the hospital she had searched Sam down when her curiosity got the better of her. She just had to know.

She almost hadn't believed what Sam had been telling her but then she remembered about what Dean had told her down on the mountain. How him and his brother messed around with the supernatural frequently.

She let her phone ring out making it go to voicemail and continued her packing. She wanted be out of Colorado Springs as soon as possible so that her and Katie could move on with their lives.

She finished her packing and then went into the small bedroom to check on her daughter. Katie was curled in a ball on the double bed clutching the bunny rabbit her father had bought for her years ago.

Not wanting to wake her daughter she moved back into the main room and began packing up Katie's small amount of toys. Once that had been accomplished, Rachel found her eyes straying back to her phone that was blinking at her telling her that she had voice mail. Knowing it was from Dean she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to listen to it. But after a couple of moments trying to ignore the phone she gave up and flipped open her phone. She opened up her voicemail and put it on loud speaker.

"_Hey Rachel its Sam, Dean's brother."_

There was a pause like he was trying to think of the right words to say.

"_First of all I'd like to tell you how sorry we are that we weren't able to find your husband. Dean woke up and is on the mend, he'll be driving the hospital staff crazy soon enough"_

Sam laughed a little and then continued.

"_Look what I really called to say was that I know what I told you was probably a lot for you to take in and that you're probably really upset or hurt or angry … hell maybe all three but you gotta know that what happened to your brother wasn't Dean's fault."_

"_He had no idea what would happen when he was healed and he hadn't even wanted to go there in the first place, I was the one who pushed him to. So blame me if you want but please don't blame him. He is definitely beating himself up enough already. I know I already told you all this but I just really wanted you to know that I know if he could go back and change it he would. I have tried to get through that thick skull of his but he wont talk to me and when he does I know I'm not getting through."_

Sam stopped again to take a breath.

"_Long story short It would be great if you could find it in you to come and talk some sense into him because him believing that you blame him is only gonna make him worse and out of everyone he is the least to blame. Okay … if we don't see you again I hope you and Katie are okay."_

The dial tone sounded indicating that Sam had hung up. She hadn't been expecting Sam. She didn't know because why because until now she had had no idea how Dean had faired. She had been too angry and upset at the time to worry about that.

"Mommy?" she heard a little voice coming from the doorway to the bedroom.

A sleepy looking Katie was standing their holding her stuffed bunny rabbit, rubbing her eye.

"Hey sweetie,"

"Who was that?"

"It was Sam … you remember those police officers that came here?"

Katie nodded as she walked over and sat down at the table next to her mother, "They were nice, especially Dean."

"Yeah they were." Rachel replied looking down at her daughter. She had a decision to make.

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Dean woke up to once again find that his brother was no longer in the room. He felt something in his hand and looked down and saw that his necklace was sitting in the palm of his hand. _/Sam must have put it there/ _he thought as he pulled the necklace over his head, letting the gold pendant hang against his chest. He felt like he had been missing something before and now he knew what it was. He never took the thing off so he definitely felt weird when he wasn't wearing it.

He was back to wondering where Sam had went when something hit him. His Impala, it wasn't exactly missing but it wasn't exactly with him either. His precious car was still sitting up where they lad left it on the mountain road. He hoped that it was alright.

He looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost two in the afternoon. He had only been asleep for a few hours. He looked up when Sam came in holding a tray of food and coffee.

"Sam you haven't been to get the Impala by any chance, have you?" was the first words out of Dean's mouth

"Well hello to you too," Sam joked as he sat the food down on the table over Dean's bed, "No I was actually more worried about how my brother was doing."

Dean gave him what was supposed to be a scary look but had no affect.

"Dean the car will be fine, now eat something will you." Sam ordered, pushing Dean's late lunch towards him.

"Dude I don't eat hospital food."

"That's good coz this ain't hospital food. I went to a café down the street and got us sandwiches and real coffee."

"Really?" Dean asked lifting his eyebrows.

"Yeah so never say I'm not a good brother." Sam said laughing, digging into his own sandwich.

Dean picked up his sandwich and started eating. His stomach was already feeling better now that he was putting food in it.

"So you never finished telling me about Rachel." Dean commented, while chewing.

Sam stopped mid chew. He was hoping that he would at least get through lunch before this conversation came up. He had made the phone call to Rachel a couple of hours ago. She hadn't picked up but he had left her a message on her voicemail and she hadn't answered him back yet. Sam wasn't expecting to hear from her now; he just hoped that this didn't send Dean's guilt trip back packing.

"About Rachel … I explained to her about Marshall."

"What? Dude why? … I think that's my business." Dean stated, raising his voice slightly, putting his sandwich back down on the tray.

"Dean, you gave me no choice. She came to me looking for answers."

"What do you mean she came to you looking for answers? How the hell did she even know about my connection to Marshall's death?"

"You don't remember?" Sam asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Dude, remember what?" Dean asked becoming exasperated.

"Okay … well after we defeated the Manticore … before you were raced to hospital you apologized to her for killing her brother. She came to me while you were in surgery asking what you meant."

"Oh." Dean said wincing. He hadn't wanted to tell her like that. And he definitely hadn't wanted Sam to tell her the story either.

"I didn't feel right telling her but she wanted to know the truth so … I told her the truth."

"What exactly did you tell her?"

"That you were dying, I took you to a faith healer, you were healed and that we found out later that Marshall had died, but it wasn't your fault."

"Sam …"

"Dean don't start with the whole I killed him thing okay … any sane person would be able to see that there was nothing you could done about it." Sam stated forcefully putting his own sandwich down.

"Fine I won't start it but we both know that it was my fault … if I hadn't been stupid enough to fire a tazor while sitting in a puddle of water then we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"Dean it's not like you had a choice. The thing was coming right at you. You had to fire."

"It was a stupid mistake Sammy, Dad would be so proud." He added sarcastically.

"Screw Dad Dean. It's not like he's here so he doesn't get to have an opinion."

"The point, Sammy, is that people aren't supposed to die because of me okay … I'm not that important."

"Say's who? If you weren't around Dean a lot of people would be dead … you risk your life all the time for others but … what … it's different when it's the other way around?"

"That's not the same thing Sam and you know it." Dean said angrily.

"No it's not the same thing but what is it going to take for you to realize that your life is just as important as the next person?"

"We're not having this conversation."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to, that's why."

"Oh that's mature."

Dean stayed silent. Sam sighed.

"Dean if you keep this up the guilt is going to kill you. You keep telling me that I shouldn't blame myself for Jessica's death … well the same goes for you man."

Dean looked up at his brother when he heard him talk about Jessica. He could see what Sam was saying but it didn't make the guilt go away.

Sam got up and ran his hands through his hair, walking back and forth to calm himself down.

"Sammy I'm gonna be okay with this … I just don't wanna discuss it anymore okay. At least Rachel knows what happened."

Sam sighed and thought that maybe it was a good thing that he had been the one to tell Rachel what had happened and not his brother. At least in his story no blame was aimed at Dean.

"Okay I guess this is over for now."

"For good … now about my car …"

Sam rolled his eyes. After that whole heartfelt argument between the two brothers, Dean's mind still went back to his car. He had the terrible thought that if something actually ever did happen to that car his brother would be lost. Hopefully he would never have to witness that.

"Oh and see if you can find Doctor what's his name … I wanna get out of here."

"I'll go find him and then if all goes well I'll go and get your damn car." Sam agreed, feeling very much like getting out of here and on their way again as soon as possible.

"Thanks Sam."

"I'll be back." Sam said walking out the door. Arguing with Dean always made him tired.

TBC

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Okay well hope you liked, **review** and let me know :-) ... now on two the last chapter :-) ... 


	22. Epilogue

**Author's Note: **Okay this is it. The last chapter. I really hope that everyone likes it

**

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Chapter 22. Epilogue**

Sam had been relieved after Doctor Lincoln had seen Dean and told them that if he did what he was told for the night they could leave the next afternoon. Dean had almost grumbled at having to stay another night but one look at the doctor and Sam told him that if he didn't keep his complaints to himself he wouldn't be getting out of there for the whole week.

Sam was now driving back towards the hospital in his brother's Chevy Impala. He was surprised Dean had allowed him to wait till after lunch to go pick up the car. He had gotten a Taxi up to the car and the driver had looked at him strange when he had asked to be dropped off halfway way up. Thankfully the car was still sitting where they left it no worse for wear.

Sam turned into the Hospital parking lot and managed to find a car park close to the entrance. He shut off the engine and looked down at his watch and saw that it was almost two pm. He was just in time to pick up Dean.

He climbed out of the car and locked the door behind him, heading into the building. He stopped off at the candy machine and bought a packet of peanut M&M's for his brother and a Snickers bar for himself and then continued on to his brother's room.

Upon entering his brother's room he found Dean sitting on top of the covers tapping his fingers on his legs impatiently.

"Dude what took you so long?" he asked and gingerly stood up, catching the clothes that Sam threw to him.

"I had to go get the car, go back to the motel and get our things … your lucky I don't make you walk out wearing the scrubs."

Dean ignored what his brother was saying and concentrated on getting dressed, which proved to be a lot more work than what he thought it would be. His back was still sore and his body was still stiff. Sam reached out to help but was slapped away.

"Dude I can dress myself … I'm not a kid."

"Fine," Sam said putting his hands up in surrender.

It was slow going but eventually Dean managed to put on his over shirt. He looked down at his feet now that he was dressed and realized that he still needed to put on his shoes and he really didn't want to have to ask Sam to help him.

Sam saw him looking down at his feet and realized what the hold up was. Dean might be feeling much better but it was going to be a struggle to bend over and put socks and shoes on. Before Dean could argue Sam knelt down and put Dean's socks and shoes on.

"Well that's embarrassing." Dean commented when Sam finished.

"Well it was better than waiting for you to do it."

"I could have done it." Dean answered indignantly.

"Sure you could have. You ready?"

"More than ready … lets get out of here."

Dean made his way slowly towards the door. Sam followed his brother down the corridor in silence. He had to admit that he was a little disappointed that Rachel hadn't come down here or at least got back to him. But he wasn't about to tell Dean that he had called her. He was just glad that they were going to be on their way and hopefully with time moving on from the events that had occurred in the last couple of weeks.

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Sam waited at the admissions desk as Dean signed all the appropriate forms. Luckily they hadn't caught on to their fake insurance cards yet.

"Well that's all done let's get out of here." Dean said getting Sam's attention.

The brothers walked out the hospital side by side, Dean a little slower than usual but Sam was glad to see that with every step his brother seemed stronger.

They were almost to the car when they heard someone call out to them.

"Sam, Dean!"

Both their heads turned in the direction of the voice. Both looked utterly shocked as they watched Rachel jogging towards them.

"Thank god I caught you before you left." She exclaimed once she came to a stop in front of them.

"Hey Rachel, how are ya doing?" Dean asked not entirely sure what to say.

"I'm getting there."

"What brought you back?" Sam asked hesitantly.

Rachel looked up at Sam and gave him a small smile, "I thought about what you said and I wanted to catch Dean before he left."

There was an awkward silence and Sam thought that maybe he should leave them alone to talk, as much as he wanted to hear what she had to say.

"I gonna go and get us some soda's for the trip … I'll be back." He told them walking off towards the vending machine he saw just outside the hospital entrance.

Dean and Rachel watched silently as Sam left and then looked back at one another.

"So Sam told you what happened?" Dean asked although he already knew the answer.

"Yeah and I'm sorry it's taken this long to come and see you … I had a lot on my mind."

"I'm sorry Rac …" he began

"It wasn't your fault Dean." She cut him off pushing her hair behind her ears.

"But …"

"It took me a while to realize that," she said, cutting him off again. "When Sam told me what happened I was so angry and upset. I wondered why you were so special that my brother had to die for you."

"He shouldn't have." Dean managed to get out, his voice wavering a little.

"You're right. He shouldn't have but that doesn't make it your fault."

"Rachel …"

"No Dean. Here me out okay. Sam is right … you couldn't know what was gonna happen and the only person to blame here is that damn reverend's wife. She was the one that was swapping life for a life."

Rachel grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I'll miss my brother forever but you beating yourself up over it doesn't do justice to his sacrifice. So please promise me that you'll stop blaming yourself." Rachel pleaded.

"It's not that simple."

"Yeah it is Dean. If I don't blame you then you shouldn't blame yourself. You've been given a second chance. If let the guilt kill you then his death was a waste."

"Sammy said the same thing." Dean smirked.

"Your brother is a smart guy."

"He likes to think so." Dean joked.

"So are you gonna promise to stop blaming yourself?"

"I'll work on it."

"Dean! Promise." She ordered.

"I promise." Dean said quietly.

"Good. It's what he would have wanted."

Dean looked at her skeptically.

"It's true. He was that type of person." She told him smiling as she remembered her brother.

"Sounds like he was a good guy," Dean stated sadly.

"Yeah he was but so are you." She said leaning in for a hug.

Dean wrapped his arms around her returning the hug, "Thanks." He whispered.

Sam walked back to the Impala to find Rachel and Dean hugging and hoped that that mean that things had gone well. Dean looked up and seeing that Sam had returned he let Rachel go and she stood back.

"How's Katie handling things?" Dean asked remembering that the little girl had just lost her father.

"She's quiet but she's strong and we have each other."

"I hope she's okay … I wish we could have said goodbye."

"If you wait around a little bit longer, she should be here any minute. She's with my friend. I wanted to run ahead to make sure I didn't miss you." Rachel explained.

"Mommy!" all three turned when the heard the shriek from the five year old running their way.

"Katie!" Rachel called back.

Katie ran quickly over to where her mother was and gave her a quick hug. Dean and Sam both smiled upon seeing her.

"Hey Dean," Katie greeted shyly.

Dean knelt down so he was at her level, "Hey Kiddo."

Katie left her mother's side and wrapped her small arms around Dean's neck, "Mommy told me you were in the hospital but I'm glad you're better now." She told him sincerely.

"Thanks, so am I." Dean replied hugging her back.

Katie broke from the hug and looked up at her mother, "Can I give it to him now?" she asked her.

"Sure Honey, go ahead."

Katie handed Dean the floppy eared bunny rabbit.

"Oh Katie I can't take your rabbit." Dean told her.

"He helped me when I was scared when Daddy was missing but now I don't need him anymore?"

"Why don't you need him anymore?"

"Because I know where Daddy is now, he's an angel." She told him very seriously.

"Maybe he can help you find your Daddy. Incase you get scared … he can help."

Dean's eyes almost misted up. He couldn't believe how sweet this little child was. She had just lost a parent and he she was giving him her cherished soft toy.

"Thanks Katie. I'll take very good care of him."

Katie hugged him once again and pulled back and took her mothers hand.

"Thanks guys … for everything." Rachel thanked them, picking up her daughter.

"Sorry we couldn't do more." Sam said.

"Well I guess we should let you guys go, remember to keep that promise Dean."

"I will." Dean promised as he opened the passenger side door of his car but then stopped and turned to look back at Rachel and Katie who were already making their way back to Rachel's friend.

"Hey Katie," he called, "Does the rabbit have a name?"

"Peter!" she called back, "like my Dad"

"That's a good name." he approved.

"Bye Dean and Dean's brother." Katie called out, waving.

Dean and Sam both chuckled at that and called out "Bye!"

The both got into the car and closed the doors. Dean sighed as Sam turned on the ignition and pulled out of the parking spot. Sam honked the horn as he past Rachel and Katie and then drove out of the parking lot.

It was silent in the car for at least half an hour, both boys running things through their minds. Sam looked over at his brother and saw that he had 'Peter' the rabbit sitting on his lap. He never thought that he would see his 27 year old brother sitting with a soft toy bunny rabbit but then a lot of things had happened over the last seven or eight months that they had been looking for their elusive father.

Dean had been staring off into space when he noticed that Sam kept on looking at him, "What?" he asked quietly, no irritation in his voice.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, looking back at the road, then back at Dean again.

Dean turned to look at Sam and seemed to think for a moment, "Ya know. I think am."

"What did Rachel have to say?" Sam asked, curious.

"Oh you know, it's not my fault, stop blaming myself, I should live life to the fullest etc etc."

"Dean that's the same things I have been saying to you this whole time." Sam said sounding exasperated.

Dean smirked, "Yeah but Sammy you're the little brother I don't like it when you're right." He joked.

Sam just laughed and put his attention back to the road ahead. It was quiet again for a few moments before Dean spoke up again.

"Sammy …" he began.

"What?"

"Sammy I just wanna say … you know … thanks for everything." Dean finally got out. He always had trouble expressing what he really wanted to say at moments like this, especially with Sam.

"Your welcome and Dean,"

"Yeah?"

"For the last time, it's SAM." Sam said a smile spreading across his face.

"Whatever Sammy,"

"Jerk."

"Bitch" Dean replied leaning forward to turn the stereo on.

Moments later AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' was blearing out of the speakers, ending the conversation.

Sam drove, still a smile on his face, to where? He didn't know. But he knew that they had just made it past one hurdle. He knew that no matter what life threw at them next they would get past it because they had each other and they were a damn good team.

The End

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Well thats it guys! What did you think? **Review** and let me know what you think as a whole. Also i wanna thank everyone fore your support and all your reviews they definately make writing so much easier. Thanks heaps!

Hope you liked it :-)

Tara :-)


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